


Enough Good Left After All

by Alkeni



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Daddy!Ward, F/M, Future Fic, Gen, Grant Ward Redemption, Its not an easy path to Skyeward, Post-Episode: s02e19 The Dirty Half Dozen, Self-Denial, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-02
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 07:45:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 88,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4255092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alkeni/pseuds/Alkeni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been four years since Grant left Kara behind with S.H.I.E.L.D. after the destruction of List’s Arctic base. Four years since she re-joined S.H.I.E.L.D. Four years of no sign of Grant. When a stray Facebook photo shows him in the background, Coulson sends her and Skye to arrest him. Kara doesn't especially want to, but she wants to even less when she finds something she didn't expect: A little girl calling Grant 'Daddy'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Four Years Later

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** I really, really don't own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 
> 
> **Note 1:** Just so no one comes into this fic expecting something they're not going to get, this is not a Kara/Ward story. While I find their dynamic interesting, the writers ultimately failed to make me believe in a romantic relationship between them (especially on Ward's part). That, and I'm a hopeless shipper for Skyeward, even if the writers seem have filled that ship with so many holes that it's resting on the bottom of the fandom ocean. While not everything I write has to be Skyeward (whether or not this will be Skyeward remains up in the air), I can't bring myself to write either Ward or Skye in a happy relationship with anyone else. 
> 
> **Note 2:** Rather than cover Kara's time with S.H.I.E.L.D. prior to the main part of the story, which would cover a lot of time and not really be entirely relevant, I'm going to take a flashback/main story model. Each chapter, until we're done covering the relevant parts of her time with S.H.I.E.L.D. before the actual part of the story will include a flashback, and then include the main part of the story happening in 2019. 
> 
> **Note 3:** For the purposes of this fic, the events of 2x20, 2x21 and 2x22 happened as they did in canon, with the obvious exception of the Kara and Ward kidnapping and torturing Bobbi scenes (and what followed after that) and, since I don't know what the plan with Simmons getting sucked into the Kree stone is, I'm going to say that didn't happen either. 
> 
> Obviously, this is AU for whatever the hell happens in Season 3, just starting with the 'Ward didn't take over Hydra' thing and going from there (Kara's still alive, and since I don't know what they have planned, I can't take it into account). 
> 
> **Note 4:** I'm going to mention this once here: For the interested, I have a Tumblr, alkenifanfiction.tumblr.com where I provide sneak peaks, chapter excerpts, writing updates and meta-discussions on fandoms I write fic in. This is all rather infrequent, but it is there if you're interested. If not, on with the fic! 
> 
> Thanks to my beta-readers, LisaMichelle25 and Riley Holden/Colormeblue 

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 1: Four Years Later 

**Infirmary, The Playground**

**April 30 th, 2015**

When Coulson told her that Grant wasn't coming back, Kara let herself seem hurt, disbelieving, surprised. She yelled at Coulson, saying that the truth had to be something else, that he wouldn't just abandon her. It was part of the act, part of the plan. She accused them of turning on him, killing him as soon as he was no longer useful. 

It was only when Coulson told her what Grant had said that her disbelief started to be genuine. Telling Coulson that there wasn't enough good left in him to 'fix' her, that he believed she should have what was taken from her back, that she shouldn't be held responsible for his actions. _That_ wasn't part of the plan. Bakshi being killed wasn't part of the plan either. He was supposed to make it – at least for their plan to go the way they'd intended. He was going to die, but not – not yet... 

It didn't mean she couldn't still do her part. She could wait for the opening, send the signal to Grant and take Barbara Morse. She still had May's face in her mask's memory. Once she had her, once she was there, together they could make Morse pay. They could make her pay for what she did. She could finally put this behind her, find closure... And then Grant and she... 

_We can finally be together._

That last thought was a lie. She knew it, even as she desperately clung to the hope that it was true. The dying, tattered hope that Grant really did love her, that he really did return her feelings. 

But he didn't. As much as he'd tried to deny it, as much as she'd been willing to lie to herself and believe his words, the only person Grant loved was that murderous, backstabbing freak who shot him from behind and left him for dead. She'd believe him at first when he'd said that Skye's shooting him in the back had made it clear that she didn't love him, and that he'd moved on. That he wasn't so crazy as to keep on loving her. 

Kara was fairly sure she'd actually let herself believe it because that's what she wanted to hear. And Grant... he was trying to convince himself as much as her. Trying to make himself believe that he didn't love her anymore. But he did. 

_What is so great about her that he still loves her, even after all that she did to him? After she rejected him time and again, shot him and left him for dead... Why does he still love her, when I was the one who was there for him? When I saved him and accepted him for who he was?_ Kara couldn't help but hate the girl named Skye. 

But – all that wasn't the issue now. She could confront him about it after they were done with Agent Morse. After they were done with the plan. 

The plan that Grant had for some reason now rejected. 

Though they had confiscated her weapons when she'd come onto the base, they hadn't taken her phone. It was an oversight she was sure, and one they would correct shortly, but it was an oversight she was grateful for as she felt it vibrate against her leg. The infirmary was empty. There was a guard at the door, but on the outside. Kars was the only patient – Mike Peterson had been taken out, and delivered to a different S.H.I.E.L.D. facility with better care for what he needed and more space for long-term care. 

She looked at the phone and let relief fill her. 

“Grant!” She didn't bother to hide her relief, her concern. “Are you alright? Did something happen? Why did you say-” 

Grant interrupted her. His voice was calm, level, but she could tell there was something wrong, that he was...upset wasn't quite the word, but it seemed the only one she could think of. 

“Something happened, yeah. I suppose I should have expected it, or something like it, but I didn't.” He paused, but only for a moment “Simmons tried to kill me. She was about to throw a splinter bomb at my back. Bakshi got in the way, saved me, but ended up taking the bomb instead.” 

“Simmons? The Doctor!? She tried to kill you?” The...guilty expression on the British woman's face made sense now. Kara clenched her empty fist, but Grant, picking up on the anger in her voice, kept talking. 

“Don't do anything to her. She didn't succeed, and it isn't like I didn't do enough to deserve it.” His tone was flat now, emotionless, like it almost always got when talking about what he'd done to his former team. 

“Grant! That's not true! You don't deserve to die. You're not-” Once again, Grant interrupted her, and she felt a flash of anger at him, wishing he'd just let her finish her sentences. 

“I'm a murderer and a traitor. I meant what I said to Coulson. There isn't enough good in me to help you. I thought...” He let his voice trail off, a low breath escaping his lips. When he spoke again, there was a strangled note in his voice. “I thought...I thought that if I could help you find yourself, find closure, recover from what Hydra did to you, it would mean that there really was something left in me. That I wasn't just a hollow shell. That there was some good left in me after all that I've done.” 

“Grant!” Kara insisted, trying to get him to understand, to get him to see reason. “There is! You helped me. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even know my name, I wouldn't have my own face, I wouldn't be able to do any of the things that you've helped me do in the last few months.” Kara lowered her voice, “Without you, I wouldn't know who sold me out and left me in Hydra's hands. Thanks to you, I can find closure.” _Thanks to you, the nightmares are less frequent, less terrible._

“That's the problem, Kara. I can't turn you into me. I made my choices, and yes, killing my brother and my parents got me closure. Forcing Christian to admit what he did to me the way I did...it was closure. But it came with a cost. Torturing Morse until she apologizes and then killing her...that will come with a cost too. It isn't going to help you get better. It's just going to make you more like me. You deserve better than that. I was never a good person. You were. You had that taken from you. You can – you can get it back there, if you stay with S.H.I.E.L.D.” 

“Stay with S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Kara had to work to keep her voice low. “They abandoned me and turned their back on you. I can't trust them. Skye shot you in the back. Simmons tried to kill you and Fitz tried to suffocate you in your cell. How can you think I'm safe here, in the same place that they are!? How can I stay in the same place as Agent Morse!?” 

“You shouldn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D.” Grant told her earnestly. “S.H.I.E.L.D. is an institution, and at this point I think we've both learned not to trust institutions. But you can trust Coulson, he's a good man. As for Skye and FitzSimmons... they're good people too. As long as you don't do what I did to them... they're no threat to you. It wasn't Coulson who abandoned you. He didn't know – Morse never told him what happened to you. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't know that she sold you out to rise up in Hydra and maintain her cover. Coulson won't be happy she kept that secret, let alone that she did it in the first place.” 

“How can you say Coulson is a good man?! He handed you over to your brother to be turned into a spectacle, to be executed!” 

“He's also the man who put me in the most basic of handcuffs. The kind that he knew I could break out of easily.” 

Kara couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't believe he was defending the people who had turned on him, had abandoned him so utterly. “So what? Coulson wanted you to escape?” Kara didn't believe that for a moment, and she couldn't believe that Grant did either. 

“Not exactly,” Grant admitted. “He wanted to have it both ways. He wanted me out of that base and he wanted Christian off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s back. But he also wanted to be able to look at himself in the mirror after handing someone over to the man who abused them for years.” Grant chuckled hollowly. It was a sound she was familiar with. “He may never have bothered to ask, to find out about Garrett, the truth about what happened. But he knew the truth about my family. He knew that much. So he made sure I could escape. And once Christian gave that speech...well, it didn't matter if I broke out or not.” 

“And that's enough for you to forgive him?” Kara didn't want to hear this, didn't want Grant to keep talking like he was, to go where this could only end. 

“No.” Grant sounded indignant at the very though. “I don't forgive Coulson for handing me over to Christian, I don't forgive Skye for shooting me, I don't forgive Simmons for trying to kill me or Fitz trying to suffocate me. But that doesn't change the fact that they're good people. It doesn't change the fact that I'm not,” he continued, barreling over any chance she had to object to his words, to his claim that he was worthless, that he had nothing to offer her. 

_He has worth to me!_ Even if he really never could love her like she wanted him to, even if they could never truly be together, she couldn't bear the thought of him no longer being by her side. 

“You were a good agent. Unlike me you were a loyal agent. You deserve a chance to have that again. To help people, to save lives. You deserve to be surrounded by good people again. People who aren't me.” 

Kara felt tears in the corners of her eyes and didn't care. She didn't care that her voice was full of the sob she was barely keeping back. “Grant! No, please. You can't – you can't leave me.” She was begging. She didn't care. 

“Please...please Kara.” Ward was begging _her_ now. “Don't make this harder than it has to be. I'm not good for you. And this – you have a chance to have what you had back. You have a chance to be an Agent again. You have a chance to have it all back.” Kara could hear the unstated 'the chance I want, the chance I'll never have' in his words. She could hear the broken quality in his voice. “I don't want to do this. But it's what needs to be done. You can find your closure with Morse another way. Just...just don't throw away your chance to have it all back.” 

The sob broke through, the tears falling freely. “Grant – why are you – please don't do this to me.” 

“I'm sorry...” Grant let his voice trail off for only a moment. “Goodbye.” His voice really broke on that word. “Goodbye Kara.” The call ended. She tried to redial, tried to get him back – the call didn't go through. 

Grant was gone. 

**Coulson's Office, The Playground**

**May 7 th, 2019**

S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't exactly need to keep the Playground as their headquarters. 

Technically, it was still an unsanctioned organization acting outside national and international law. It still had no official support from any government, and not much in the way of unofficial support. These days, it did have some unofficial backing from Stark Industries and a handful of other private interests, but still not much. 

Public opinion was still not very pro S.H.I.E.L.D. 

Still, none of the world governments were actively going after S.H.I.E.L.D. or their agents, facilities and assets, as long as they kept a low profile and didn't try to go up against them. Sometimes the agency worked at cross purposes with a government, which led to saber-rattling and some problems for a while, but really... they didn't need to use a secret underground base as their main headquarters. 

Kara supposed it was something of a reflex, or perhaps just nostalgia on the part of Coulson and his inner circle for the base that had been their home until S.H.I.E.L.D's position had become more secure in the last few years. It didn't really matter. She rarely spent much time in the Playground, preferring to operate out of any – well, not quite _any –_ other base. She refused to go onto the _Illiad_ , now that Morse ran it. 

But Coulson was still the Director, and when he ordered you to come to his office, you came. Most of the time, these days, she liked working for him. It was hard to hate Coulson. He _was_ a good man. He could have been a better man, but he was a good man. And apart from her brief incarceration after Grant left... he'd not held her responsible for what she'd done while brainwashed. He'd given her a chance to become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent again. 

As much as she still wished she was working alongside Grant, even now, she was glad to have this opportunity to get back this part of her old life. She did like being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Being able to help people, save lives... just like he'd said. 

Every life she saved, every good deed she did as an Agent... it was one small bit of redemption, for what she did at Whitehall's order. 

And for what Grant had done. All the good she did – Grant was responsible for it, ultimately. If he hadn't helped her, hadn't saved her from the black abyss she'd fallen into after Whitehall's death, she wouldn't be able to do the good she did now. 

The rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. might never forgive Grant. But she would make sure the scales were balanced eventually. Hers and Grant's. One day, there'd be enough good that at least on some...grand cosmic level, things would be balanced out. 

She could only hope. For her own soul and for Grant's. 

She hadn't known what to expect when she walked into Coulson's office, but Skye being already there was definitely not something she'd thought she'd see. The implication was obvious. She was going to go on some sort of mission _with_ Skye, but Coulson knew better than to send her on missions with Skye. 

He _never_ sent her on missions with Simmons or Bobbi. She'd never told Coulson what Simmons had tried to do, in that base in the Arctic, but he'd quickly been able to tell that Kara neither liked, nor trusted Simmons, and couldn't stand to be in the same room as her for any length of time. With Bobbi – well, Coulson, and just about everyone else knew why Kara wouldn't work with her. 

He'd never pressed on the issue of Simmons. 

With Skye... 

Well, Kara didn't like Skye. She still hated the girl just a little bit, but not for shooting Grant. She'd moved past that, eventually. It had taken a heartfelt conversation, more than a few beers and a lot of time for her to get there, but she had. But she still hated Skye because... 

_Because Grant loved her so much I never had a chance._

She didn't like Skye, but she did...trust her a little. Enough that she was willing to be in the same room, anyway. Especially since, apart from that one drunken conversation, they'd long since come to an unspoken truce: never mention Grant. But going on a mission together with her? Coulson didn't do that very often. 

“Sir?” She asked, closing the door behind her. She nodded to Skye, acknowledging her. “What is it?” 

Coulson tapped something on the tablet in his hands and a picture went up onto the main screen in the wall. It was a picture taken at some sort of park – complete with slides, monkey bars and what looked like a sandbox in the corner. Kids playing. There were several children in the foreground – they were clearly who the focus of picture was on. It didn't take her long to understand why this picture was of relevance to Coulson, to S.H.I.E.L.D. 

Because right in the background, just on the edge of the playground, was Grant Ward. 

He was clean-shaven, a look she didn't really recognize on him. He looked...normal. He wore jeans and a T-shirt and she didn't see any sign of a weapon on him, not even to her trained eye. 

“You found Grant.” She couldn't stop the faint tremble in her voice. Four years... that was the last time she'd heard from him. And now, here he was. In a perfectly normal picture. Alive. Unharmed. Safe. And apparently... something approaching happy, judging from the small smile on his face. 

“We found him,” Coulson nodded. “This picture was taken yesterday and put onto the Facebook page of that girl's parents this morning.” He gestured to the little girl in the center of the picture. “Unless Ward has completely lost his touch, he won't be hanging around for long. He'll know he's been caught.” 

“Caught?” Kara looked at him. “You're going after him? It's been four years. He's done nothing to get onto our radar. He hasn't-” 

“Whatever he has or hasn't done in the last four years, Agent Palamas,” Coulson started, “he's still a criminal. And I highly doubt he's been some sort of model citizen in the years since the Arctic.” 

“So what, you want to arrest him? You made a deal with him. He helped you get into that base, get the information on where Strucker and the staff was. He helped you rescue Mike and Lincoln.” She shot Skye a look at the mention of her ex. The former hacker didn't react. 

“The deal was that he go through the T.A.H.I.T.I. protocol and then he'd be free,” Coulson replied. 

“Yes.” Kara usually didn't let her displeasure with Coulson show whenever she was unhappy with him. But this time – this time there was no reason to bite back the acidic venom in her words. “Because taking away someone's entire sense of self and giving them a brand-new custom made past and personality is _absolutely_ freedom.” Coulson and Skye both had the decency to look away for a moment at her words. 

“With all the crap we're dealing with – like Hydra coming back _again_ – why on earth are you so interested in capturing Grant?” Kara demanded. 

She'd been amazed at the naivete S.H.I.E.L.D. had shown in the aftermath of the brief conflict with the Inhumans. The idea that Hydra had been defeated, or at least rocked back on its heels so hard that it would take a long time to rebuild to be a threat was a foolish one. 

Kara had known that was nonsense. She had known that Hydra would come back, and far sooner than they'd expected. She'd told them as much, but they hadn't believed her. Six months later, Hydra announced its return to the spotlight with an attack on the _Illiad_ that had nearly cost them the carrier. It had taken two years to defeat that new, smarter, sleeker and even more compartmentalized Hydra. And yet, two months ago, it had announced a third rebirth by bombing an international arms control summit. 

So far, they weren't sure who was behind the new Hydra 4.0, or even what its objectives were, beyond the general 'world domination'. They had a surprising number of gifted working for them and they seemed to strike randomly. Only one of their bases had been identified and taken out so far. 

“That's exactly why I want to deal with him _now_ , before he becomes a problem. I don't think this picture was an accident. Ward's too good to let his picture be taken by accident. He's taunting us. Calling us out.” Coulson just couldn't see past what had happened. “This isn't up for discussion, Agent Palamas. I want Grant Ward apprehended and brought to the Playground. I'd rather it be unharmed. And I know you would too.” 

“I will _not_ be the one to arrest Grant. Do you hate him so much you want to have the only person left that he trusted turn on him?” 

“I...I have to say – I – I don't see how this is a priority,” Skye said softly, the first time she'd spoken since Kara had come into the room. “If we weren't busy with Hydra, I'd understand. But Agent Palamas is right. This isn't a big concern.” Coulson looked at her, as if he couldn't believe what she was saying. Skye kept talking, and Kara balled her hands into fists at the woman's next words. “He belongs in a cell. He shouldn't be allowed to roam free, but – this is a small concern.” 

“Big concerns grow from small concerns. You plant them, water them with tears, fertilize them with unconcern. If you ignore them, they grow,” Coulson replied. Kara recognized the reference immediately. From the look on Skye's face she did too. 

“You're really going to quote _Babylon 5_ to make your case?” Kara could barely believe he was trying to justify this with – a line from a TV show. A damn good TV show, but still. And Skye- 

Kara wasn't surprised that Skye agreed with Coulson. No in S.H.I.E.L.D. besides Kara understood. They didn't see and didn't care. Skye knew more about the truth, about what had happened to Grant, than anyone else, but when she wasn't three sheets to the wind, she couldn't even start to think past the betrayal. She couldn't see that Grant was a good man. A good man trying desperately to make up for a lifetime of mistakes and crimes, to overcome the man that his family and Garrett had created. 

“It makes my point as well as anything else.” Coulson replied calmly. He took a breath and let it out, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose before finally continuing. “I don't imagine we'll end up keeping him in a cell for long. If there's one skill Grant Ward has shown himself to have it is a consistent ability to wriggle out of almost anything eventually.” Kara tried to ignore the slight note of disgust in Coulson's voice as he said the word 'wriggle', but she couldn't. 

Coulson was a good man, yes, but not when it came to Grant. 

“But,” Coulson continued, “in the meantime, there are questions I have that only he has the answers to. Questions S.H.I.E.L.D. _need_ _s_ answers to.” 

“Then give them to me and I'll ask him myself.” Kara replied. “Or do you suddenly not trust me again?” 

“I trust you. But these questions and their answers are need-to-know only.” 

Kara shook her head. She didn't believe him. Or – there was something more at play. Coulson knew more than what he was saying. As far as he could tell, he didn't keep secrets like this that often, but this time he was. 

“I'm not going to betray him like everyone else in his life has.” Kara replied calmly. She didn't care about the response – the incredulous looks from Coulson and Skye that more or less said 'what the fuck, really?'. “You want me to go along because you think if he sees me he'll drop his guard. And you don't think he'll shoot or hurt Skye, which is why you're sending her. But here's the thing: Grant _never_ drops his guard.”   
  
“If he sees someone he trusts – you, as you say – then he'll know we're not arresting him for an execution. We're not,” Coulson countered. “This isn't a suggestion, Agent Palamas. I'm ordering the two of you to go to Indianapolis and bring Ward back here. There's a quinjet waiting and fueled up for you.” 

Kara said nothing. She took in a sharp breath, keeping her fists clenched and her arms by her sides. She nodded but didn't trust herself to open her mouth. 

“Just the two of us?” Skye asked, her tone focused, professional. 

“If you need backup, it will only be two hours away,” Coulson told her. He looked to Kara. “Agent Palamas – I need you to tell me. I can trust you on this, right?” He let out a breath, “If you can't do this -” His voice softened a moment, “I'd understand. If you're determined to not... I won't make it an order if you can't do this.” 

Kara was too angry at Coulson to give him any points for acting like a human being again, but she sucked in a long breath and let it out slowly. “I'll go.” She looked to Skye. “I'm the only one I'd trust to bring him in alive and unharmed.” 

Skye didn't say anything. Kara wasn't surprised. 

She took another deep breath. 

It was time to go arrest Grant Ward. 


	2. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:**  
>  Watch the last three episodes of season 2 again. Then look at the summaries and pairings of my AoS fics. Then ask me if I own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
> 
> **Note:**  
>  One of the issues with writing anything from Kara's POV is that we don't spend anywhere near enough time with unbrainwashed her to really have a firm, firm idea on her personality. It doesn't help that 2x21 & 2x22 take a hard left with her as well. I'm modeling her on what we see of her in the show, and thus trying to stay as in character to her as I can. If you ever feel that something I'm doing with her is OOC, feel free to tell me. 
> 
> Thanks to my beta-readers, LisaMichelle25 and Riley Holden/Colormeblue

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 2: Reunion 

**Vault D, The Playground**

**May 8 th, 2015**

Kara hadn't been surprised when she'd been taken to a cell the next day. When she'd made the plan with Grant, they had known this would be a possibility. Of course, that was before Grant had told her Coulson was a good man. That he really could help her. That she should try to reclaim her past as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. 

She'd expected to be taken to a cell, but she didn't do what the plan called for – she hadn't killed the guards, put on a new face and taken Morse out of the base under some ruse or another. 

It wasn't because she wanted to be a prisoner in the same hole they'd stuffed Grant into. It wasn't because she'd suddenly embraced Grant's plan to...find closure from Morse another way or because she welcomed the idea of becoming an agent once more. 

No. It was because she'd been far too numb to resist. Too numb and raw from Grant abandoning her. She was too distressed by Grant's words. 

Grant had been wrong. Coulson wasn't a good man and this more or less proved it. He'd given her his word – and then he'd stuck her in a cell the very next day. He hadn't even had the guts to do it himself. Instead, he'd sent May, making him a coward as well as a liar. 

And so here she was in the same cell Grant had been in for all those months. Three times a day, an agent came down with food, on the third day she'd looked at the camera – the one she could see – and demanded a newspaper, a magazine, a crossword even. 

She wanted to rage and scream and yell at them for what they did to Grant. What they had done to her, hell, what they were still doing to her. She wanted to take Coulson to task about lying to her face like he had. She wanted to tell them what Morse had done, wanted to wipe the smug self-righteousness off of May's face, off of the faces of the guards who had taken her here. She wanted to air S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dirty laundry right in their faces, and then rub their noses in it. 

But it wouldn't work. She couldn't rage forever, and it was pretty clear that Coulson and company felt no shame for anything. That they were so prepossessed with the idea that they were the good guys, that they could do no real wrong, that what they did was always okay at the end of the day. If they were inclined to feel shame, she wouldn't be here. If they were inclined to shame, Grant wouldn't have to be on the run, his only options here a cell or his memories erased and replaced with those of Coulson's choosing. 

On the fifth day, a book of crossword puzzles and a mechanical pencil were included on her food tray. She would have preferred a newspaper or a magazine but it was something other than the three walls of her cell to look at. Something to do. 

On the eighth day, someone arrived in her cell at a time that _wasn't_ the regularly scheduled mealtime. It only took her a few seconds to recognize the girl she'd seen in San Juan. Skye. 

“Here to interrogate me?” Kara demanded as the girl stepped into the light. “After all, you had _so_ much success with Grant down here. Are you going to tell me I should have run faster too?” Kara watched with satisfaction as Skye looked away a little at her words. Maybe someone at S.H.I.E.L.D. did have shame after all. Or maybe it was just the bitter venom in her tone. Kara was in no mood to be charitable to Skye of all people. 

“I'm not here to interrogate you,” Skye answered. She didn't have that fierce look of determination and resistance in her eyes that she had in San Juan. She just looked tired. 

“So then why are you here?” Kara demanded once more. 

“I'm not...not really sure,” Skye admitted. She stood in front of the chair, but didn't sit. 

Kara sat down on the cot. She didn't want to talk to Skye. She didn't want to be near the woman who still had Grant's heart, who had shot him four times and left him for dead when he'd been trying to help her. But she had had no one to talk to for eight days. The isolation was starting to get to her. She'd had someone by her side – had _Grant_ by her side for months. Now she had no one. Still. It was _Skye._

“Unless you have some purpose in being here, go away.” Kara told her harshly. “After what you did to Grant, I have no interest in chit-chatting with you.” 

Skye gave a little, empty, humorless laugh. “So you call him Grant.” 

Kara scoffed. “That's his name. Of course I'd call him that. It's what partners do.” Friends called each other by their first name. Lovers call each other by their first name. 

Not that she and Grant had ever been lovers, however much she'd wanted it. However much she'd wanted him to love her. 

“Even before...before Hydra, he was always 'Ward'.” Skye said after a moment. Then she continued: “Some partner he'd turned out to be. He abandoned you because he was too much of a coward to face the consequences of all the evil shit he's done.” The tiredness fell away from her voice a little, replaced by anger and hate. And bitterness. 

“He left me here in the tender mercies of your beloved S.H.I.E.L.D. because he thought that Coulson was a good man. That Coulson and the rest of you could help me.” Now it was Kara's turn to laugh without humor. “So much for that.” She gestured around the cell to the laser grid wall separating her from the bitch outside the cell. 

“Coulson _is_ a good man.” Skye replied immediately, insistently. 

“My circumstances beg to differ,” Kara pointed out. “Not to mention a laundry list of sins I could go through. Not that you'd care. Coulson told me that I'd be treated like the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent I was before Whitehall... Despite herself, Kara's voice broke a little. “Before Whitehall captured me. Instead, he stuffs me into this cage.” 

“It wasn't Coulson's idea!” Skye countered. “It was Gonzales and May.” Kara didn't recognize the first name, at least not offhand. There was a strange note to the way Skye said it too. 

“Coulson is the director. It happened on _his_ watch, and he clearly didn't put up much of a fight,” Kara pointed out. And Grant had insisted Skye was a good person too. How could Grant still believe in his old team after all that they'd done to him? 

“They overruled him. Coulson had to make a compromise, with the 'real S.H.I.E.L.D.' He had to create an advisory board that could overrule him if they felt they needed to.” Skye sounded far from happy about the arrangement. 

_Was that why she came down here? To defend the **wonderful** Philip Coulson?_ It was a stupid reason for the freak to come down here. Kara was _never_ going to like to trust Coulson and nothing Skye could say or do was going to change that. 

“You’re being let out tomorrow,” Skye finished. “He managed to convince the board to let you out. He's a good man. He keeps his promises.” 

“I'll believe it when I see it,” Kara replied. “So did you just come down here to tell me that? Because you don't sound like you agree with his decision.” 

“You spent _months_ with Ward. Helped him with whatever the hell he was up to and god knows what else you did with him. You clearly weren't bothered by the fact that he was a-” It was pretty clear from the disgusted note in Skye's voice and the sick look on her face what she meant by 'god knows what'. 

“Let me stop you there,” Kara interrupted, her voice level and emotionless, but loud and firm. Not yelling or screaming, but very well projected nonetheless. “I'm not going to sit here and listen to what you have to say about Grant. Your opinion counts for nothing with me. You don't know anything about him. You and the rest of your new version of S.H.I.E.L.D. like to sit there with your smug sense of moral superiority, content in the idea that you're the good guys, that nothing you do can ever be wrong, that anyone who falls by the wayside deserved it. You're so sure you know _everything_ that you can't accept when you know nothing, so you create information rather than seek it out. You know nothing about Grant, and it's pretty clear you've all made up your minds regardless.” 

Kara continued, unwilling to let Skye get a word in edgewise. “But in answer to your real question, the one you just hinted at, no, I didn't sleep with Grant.” _Not for lack of trying on my part._ “He was still in love with you, even after you shot him in the back four times.” Kara couldn't stop the anger and pain that was getting into her voice. “I hate you, Skye, in part because of what you did to Grant in San Juan and before. But the real reason? Because he was so fucking in love with you that I _never had a chance!_ ” Kara was yelling now, a few tears in her eyes. She didn't care. “He tried to stop loving you, after you shot him four times, but he couldn't. I don't know what the hell it is about you, but you're still the one he loves. He'd do anything for you, and you shot him in the back while he was trying to help you. You shot him and left him for dead. Get the _hell_ out. I may be a prisoner of your precious Philip Coulson and your precious S.H.I.E.L.D. but I'm human, and I still have worth and dignity, so get the _hell_ out!” 

**Park, Indianapolis, Indiana**

**May 7 th, 2019**

“We're really going to start our search here?” Kara rolled her eyes. “Grant isn't this stupid. He got caught on camera here. He won't come back.” 

“I know how good he is, Palamas,” Skye replied with bite in her tone. “I know firsthand how _good_ Ward is at hiding himself, his motives, the fact that he's-” Skye cut herself off and took a breath. “This is the only place we have any confirmation as to where he's been. Showing his picture around and hopefully getting an idea of where he might be, maybe even whatever name he's under right now. It's the best bet we have for getting any sort of lead on his location.” 

Kara looked around the park as Skye spoke. It was filled with children and families eating at picnic tables, playing on swings and monkey bars and slides and running and playing tag, just...being normal. Looking at them, one forgot that beneath the surface of the veneer of normality the world had, there was an ongoing immortal death struggle for the future of the world between S.H.I.E.L.D. and various 'heroes' on the one side and Hydra, rogue mega-corps, criminal syndicates with a little alien technology and even less sense, mad scientists and powered people who chose to be 'evil' on the other. Not to mention the standard terrorist organizations and such that S.H.I.E.L.D. lacked the resources to assist world governments in helping to contain. They got to run more rampant than they had in the past. 

And apart from major flare-ups like the Battle of New York or the 'Ultron Incident' and the like, most people lived their lives as they had before the world changed when Tony Stark suddenly broke everything wide open with his Ironman suit. 

Kids went to the park and played, usually in sight of their parents, but with no one having any idea of the threat that loomed constantly over their heads. No one was looking over their shoulders. They didn't have a state of the art (and as of yet still completely unreproducible) nano-mask grafted to their face as a result of electrocution. 

Kara envied the normality of their lives, but she'd never be able to have it. She knew what the world was really like, and she was an agent. Agents didn't get to retire to a normal life with a white-picket fence. Nothing close to that, or even in the neighborhood a few miles away. Normal wasn't the fate for her. 

Besides, she'd get bored. 

“So what, we're just going to flash his photo around and hope someone knows something?” Kara shook her head, “not really much of a plan.” 

“Well, we don't really have much to go on. It's not like we can stake out the only identity-guy in town who doesn't use computers and wait for him to show up and then catch him via flying car.” Skye pointed out with an oddly specific example. “Like you said, Ward is that good. He'll have his backup identities already prepared. We just have to hope. And if we don't find him or any good leads, we can go back to the Playground and back to dealing with Hydra.” 

“You sound like you want to be here even less than I do,” Kara commented, still scanning the park. 

“I really don't,” Skye agreed. “I agree with AC that Ward should be in a cell, and if we can get him now, we should, but I'd rather not see him again.” 

_Well, the last time you saw him you managed to not shoot him four times in the back like you did the time before._

Kara didn't vocalize that though. It was part of their little unofficial truce on the subject of Grant since that drunken conversation three years ago. Kara didn't mention the 'shooting him in the back' thing or the fact that Grant had still been hopelessly in love with her – and for Kara's money, probably still loved - and Skye didn't go off on how much of an 'evil murderous Nazi serial killing bastard' he was. 

Most people in S.H.I.E.L.D. had learned not to mention Grant around her and she'd learned not to mention him around them. The only one she brought him up to with any regularity was with Dr. Garner, during their sessions, which weren't regularly scheduled, but happened whenever she could fit them into the spaces between her missions as an agent and his schedule as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s chief (and really only) on-staff therapist. Garner was the only person who seemed to understand the truth about Grant, the only one willing to listen about what had happened to him. 

“Well, then I guess we both have reason to hope this goes nowhere,” Kara murmured. She accepted a badge from the other Agent – DEA, not S.H.I.E.L.D. “Oh, so we're DEA now?” 

“I got tired of being FBI.” Skye replied. 

“But now instead of any number of other less extreme things, we're going to be implying that Grant is a drug dealer, at a children's playground. He's going to be _thrilled_ if he hears about this.” Kara shook her head and looked at the badge. As usual with Skye's work, it was top of the line, and much more than they needed to fool a civilian. She rolled her eyes, “your idea or Coulson's?” Either one of them would always be eager to paint Grant in the worst possible light. 

'I couldn't care less about what he thinks about how we go about catching him.” Kara ignored Skye and looked over the park, searching for the section they'd seen in the photograph. It would be a good place to start anyway. Spotting the sandbox, Kara started walking towards it. Skye began to follow her, but Kara held up a hand. 

“The whole reason I'm here is because Grant is supposed to let his guard down when he sees me. He won't, but let's say we actually give Coulson's insane brainwave a try. Because while I agree he probably won't try to shoot you, seeing you is hardly going to fill him with the warm fuzzies.” Then again, he'd probably see her either way, so it didn't matter. 

“I'm not going to let you find him alone. You're going to warn Grant-” Skye started, but Kara interrupted her. 

“The second he sees me, he's going to know I'm with S.H.I.E.L.D.” Kara interrupted. Grant had never really asked anything of her, but he'd asked her to take this second chance, the second chance he'd never had. He knew her well enough to know she'd take it, if there was a possibility. She'd had a lot to say to Coulson before she'd taken his offer, but she had taken it. “That's going to warn him as it is. The only question is if he runs or if he decides to see what the play is, since S.H.I.E.L.D. sent me rather than someone who'd be prepared to kill him.” Skye might be prepared to hurt him but Kara doubted Skye could kill him even now. Kara could be wrong. But as long as Coulson wanted Grant alive, Skye would deliver him alive. 

“I don't trust you with him.” 

“I don't especially trust you with him _either_ , Skye, so I suppose we're even.” Kara shook her head at Coulson's 'brainwave' in sending the two of them after her. It made sense, sort of, but once you got past the surface, it really didn't. “So stay here. Keep an eye on me if you must.” 

Skye bit her lip and looked away, then back to her. “You catch a lot more flies with honey than with napalm, you know. You could try being likeable once in a while.” 

“I don't especially care if you like me Skye. Remember our first conversation?” She watched with satisfaction as Skye averted her eyes for a moment. “And you should have tried following that advice five years ago when you had Grant in a cage.” Kara didn't wait for a response and stalked off further into the park. She was going to look for Grant before she started flashing his picture and a DEA badge at the same time. It was unlikely he was here but Kara was wondering if it hadn't been deliberate. Four years of nothing and suddenly there was a picture of him out there? It seemed a little more than random chance. 

_Not that it can't be random chance._ Sometimes, even in a world where evil conspiracies really did exist, things just went wrong all on their own. Grant could make mistakes. He could be wrong. He'd certainly never expected that Simmons would try and kill him, even though he'd said in the aftermath that he should have expected it. 

_No matter how good you are at the job, you can still screw up_ . As far as she was concerned, the life stories of Kara Lynn Palamas and Grant Ward would be fucking monuments to that statement. 

For the next five minutes, Kara searched the Park carefully, staying near the playground equipment that had been prominent in the picture, but checking all around in every direction. No sign of him. She really didn't want to flash the picture – that kind of behavior got suspicious quickly and might spark Grant to take his chances running. 

She was okay with him running but she wanted to talk to him first. 

Well, slap him and then talk to him. _He doesn't get to just abandon me 'for my own good' and expect to **not** get slapped._

And what the hell were those questions that Coulson so desperately needed answers for that they were doing this in the first place? That were so important he couldn't have her ask them – and they needed to be asked in Vault D, or whatever hole they decided to stick Grant in this time? Nothing Grant knew about Hydra was current. 

She was just about to take out the badge when she saw him sitting on a bench some distance away...reading a newspaper. And wearing similarly normal clothes like in the picture. He clearly hadn't let himself go in the last four years either. He looked like a normal human being – just a guy, just sitting on a park bench reading a newspaper. Kara didn't even bother to approach steathily. She might have been able to surprise him, but she didn't want to. 

In a minute, she was almost to the park bench – and Grant had already lowered the newspaper. She still couldn't see any sign of a weapon on him. But Grant wouldn't go out into public with nothing. 

Grant was on his feet when he saw her approaching, but he made no move to run. Instead he walked towards her, a small smile on his face. “Kara.” Before Grant could do or say anything more, her palm was connecting with his cheek. It wasn't _that_ hard of a slap but Grant recoiled from it nonetheless. He brought his hand up to his cheek and then looked over at her, grimacing. “I suppose I deserved that.” 

“But only that,” Kara agreed. She put her arms around him, giving him a friendly hug for a moment before pulling back. Grant stiffened a little at the motion, but only briefly before returning the gesture for a second. “Four years and you never even thought to use the dead-drop in St. Louis we agreed on?” She'd checked that bus locker once every few months, whenever she could swing passing through St. Louis. 

“I thought about it,” Grant replied softly. “But I didn't want to put you in that position with Coulson – contact with a wanted criminal and all that.” He frowned. “He sent you.” Not a question. 

“Did you really think S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't see the picture? Why did you come back here?” Kara asked earnestly, silently urging him to run. 

Grant shook his head, “Figured Coulson would have bigger things to worry about than me given the times. And I didn't have much of a choice.” There was a soft smile on his face that didn't seem to really jive with his words. 

“Didn't have a choice? What's so important about this park that you had to come back here today?” Kara demanded. She saw Skye approaching and clenched one fist by her side. 

“I'll answer that question when Skye walks around from behind me,” Grant replied, his voice suddenly icily calm. He looked back at the woman, whose hand was on the ICER at her waist. “Forgive me, but I don't really like having my back to you these days.” 

Kara shot Skye a smirk though she also spared her a glare. “I told you he wouldn't drop his guard.” 

Skye walked around from behind Grant, hand still on her ICER. “I figured it was worth a try.” Kara just pinched the bridge of her nose at the way Grant's expression was almost entirely blank. Still loved her or not, Grant clearly didn't like having her around – certainly not after she'd just been armed at his back. 

“Hands on your head, Ward,” Skye ordered harshly. Kara swallowed, unable to help feeling like a traitor. Grant had saved her and her she was helping him get arrested for no reason. Because Coulson was in a fit of pique, more or less. 

Grant looked away from Skye to her. To Kara's peace of mind and relief, he didn't have any look of hurt or betrayal in his eyes towards her. She could only hope that meant he didn't feel betrayed, feel like she was - 

Before Skye could insist again that Grant put his hands on his head, before Kara could think more on the subject, they heard the sound of a little girl yelling.  
  
“Daddy!” The voice was excited and happy, and a girl wearing pink – all pink – with long curly blonde hair ran into their view. “I beat Jimmy! I beat him to the tree! I won the race!” 

Grant's face just about exploded into a broad smile as he leaned down and swept the girl, - who looked young, had to be like, four or five or six? - into his arms in a smooth practiced motion. The girl squealed in delight as Grant lifted her into the air.  
  
“That's great!” He said earnestly, his eyes on the girl – if Kara didn't know better, she'd think he was completely ignoring the two of them. “And since you won, I guess that means I should get you an ice cream, right?” 

“Of course Daddy!” The girl said, as if it was so obvious. “Winners always get ice cream!” Grant set her down gently, and Kara finally got enough control of herself to blink and do a double take. No. that was still Grant with a little girl who had called him 'Daddy' twice. Kara looked to Skye. The Inhuman's hand had left her weapon and she looked even more confused by this than Kara felt. 

“Ward, what the hell?” Skye demanded, her tone less harsh and angry and more... completely bamboozled. 

The girl, who turned to face the two women, had her mouth into an 'O' of surprise. “Ooooh, you said a bad word!” 

“Kara, Skye,” Grant started, “This is my daughter, Rachel.” 


	3. Daughter?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** I still do not own it. I don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. 
> 
> **Note:** This fic will be entirely from Kara's POV. Entirely. That means that all opinions expressed in internal dialogue are what I believe Kara's opinions would be at the time and in that situation. That does not mean I believe certain things. Where it fits, and where I disagree with Kara, I may put another character countering her point and put that in a positive light, but I won't wedge that into the story if it doesn't fit. So just take this as a blanket disclaimer: I don't always agree with my characters. I write what I think they would think/say, regardless of how correct I think it actually is. 
> 
> **Note 2:** It's been years since I've been around kids Rachel's age for any length of time. I'm not guaranteed to get her right – but, kids are a pretty diverse lot. But, if you really think I'm portraying her wrong for her age, please, feel free to tell me. 
> 
> Thanks to LisaMichelle25 and Riley Holden/Colormeblue for beta-reading. 

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 3: Daughter?! 

**Vault D, The Playground**

**May 9 th, 2015**

When Coulson came down the stairs into the 'room', Kara had to admit that she was surprised. As she'd told Skye, she'd believe Coulson was going to let her out when she saw it. 

She was even more surprised, then, when Coulson picked up the tablet that controlled the cell and just turned off the laser barrier. He compounded her surprise by walking up to her handing her the tablet, and then sitting down in the chair as if he _wasn't_ sitting in a room with someone he'd put into a cell a week ago. 

Coulson gestured to her cot. “Have a seat.” 

“So Skye was right,” Kara muttered. She still didn't quite believe it, but she was closer to believing it now than yesterday or the seven days before that one. She didn't sit though. “I'd rather get out of here than sit, if that's alright with you.” Her tone wasn't rude, but it wasn't polite either. Kara had no interest in being 'nice' to Coulson. 

“There are a few questions I would like to ask you first,” Coulson replied. “If you don't want to sit while we talk, you don't have to.” Kara marveled at Coulson's ability to sound reasonable. Calm. Like someone you could trust. _Hydra should have tried to recruit him, not Garrett. He's enough of a zealot that they probably could have pulled it off, with a little work._

Rolling her eyes, Kara scoffed. “Of course there's a catch. Let me preempt your obvious first question: I don't know where Grant is, and I wouldn't tell you if I knew.” Hand him over to die, be put in a cell or have his entire personality erased and replaced with one of Coulson's choosing? Yeah, never going to happen. 

Coulson shook his head, “No catch.” He gestured to the stairs that led up and out of the vault. “You'll be allowed up those stairs one way or the other, whatever you say in answer to the questions. If you decide you don't want to come back to S.H.I.E.L.D., I can have a quinjet take you to anywhere you'd like on the North American continent. If you want to stay, however, you're welcome to. I would much prefer it.” 

Coulson gestured to the tablet still in her hands. “I gave that to you so you wouldn't think that I was going to just close the barrier on you when I was done with my questions. I was never planning to, and now I can't. 

_Like I don't know that there aren't other ways and places to turn the barrier back on._ Coulson was so obviously pleased with himself, the way he'd covered his angles, the way he was trying to make her feel like the angles were covered, that she was _safe_ here, okay here. 

She wasn't. Because there was _no_ earthly way she would ever trust Coulson or his intentions, not completely, no matter what he did or however he might pretend to reassure her. 

“You're taking quite a chance,” Kara pointed out coolly. “With the barrier down, there's nothing stopping me from attacking you right now.” 

Coulson was apparently unfazed by her semi-threat. “You don't have a weapon on you and while you're quite lethal in the art of unarmed combat, the odds are good you wouldn't be able to do much damage before another agent came down here and stopped you. And if you _did_ kill me, you wouldn't make it within a hundred feet of the exit before at least three agents killed you.” The statement seemed absurd on the face of it but she got the point. He wasn't making a threat to her. He was giving her the reason he trusted her to not go after him now that the barrier was down, given that he could be wrong about her. 

Kara scoffed again. “Now at least I know you're being honest with me. Mostly.” It was far easier to believe that Coulson didn't entirely trust her either than he did. If he'd tried to convince her that he actually trusted her, she'd have known he was completely full of it. 

_Now I can know he's just mostly full of it. Probably._

“I'm willing to trust you to a point but you did just spent the better part of three months in the company of a sociopath who has no love for this agency or the people in it-” 

Kara just burst out laughing. Scornful laughter, but genuine laughter. It was better than crying and screaming at the sheer disgustingness of it all, of the smug hypocrisy and self-righteousness that had Coulson and the rest of them convinced they knew a thing about Grant, about what had happened to him, about what kind of man he really was. 

Coulson just gave her a blank look. “Something amusing, Agent Palamas?” 

_Not an Agent yet, you little son of a bitch._ “Oh, so many things, Director. So many things.” Kara told him between dark chuckles. She took a breath and returned to a normal, level tone. “Grant isn't a sociopath and to say that he has no love for this agency and the people in it is so incredibly ignorant that it is in fact amusing.” 

“I'm sorry I can't share in the humor of the joke,” Coulson replied flatly. 

“Grant told me you were a good man. He's the one who told me that I should stay here, that I'd be _safe_ here. That I should become an agent again, that I should have a chance to have what I had before your precious agency surrendered me to the tender mercies of Whitehall and Bakshi.” Kara turned around and gestured at her cell. “As you might be able to guess, I don't entirely agree with that assertion of Grant's.” 

“You're imprisonment was a mistake, and not one that I endorsed.” 

“Yeah, Skye told me.” Kara replied. “But you're the damn Director. At some point, the buck stops at your office.” She stepped out the cell, looking down at the seated Coulson. “Let me be clear about something. I don't like you Director Coulson. I don't trust you. And I don't like or trust your agency. Not anymore, and I suspect that will never change. I would much rather be with Grant right now but he decided to make decisions for me, 'for my own good' and left me here. By now he's changed phones at least six times and smashed all the previous ones, and I really am stuck here instead. So here I am.” 

She didn't really _want_ to be an agent again. But she did want to be able to help people, to fight Hydra. S.H.I.E.L.D. was a place where she could do that. And there would be no finding Grant if he didn't want to be found. Not without a lucky break. Her choices, then, were leaving and being on her own, trying to help people while hoping for that lucky break, or stay here with S.H.I.E.L.D., help people and hope for that lucky break. 

Not especially great choices when one got right down to it. 

Grant had never truly asked anything of her in their time together. She would have done more or less anything that he could have asked which might have been why he never asked her to do things for him. But he _had_ asked her, had _pleaded_ with her to stay here, to have that second chance that he never had. To become an agent again and have what Whitehall took from her back – at least, to a degree. 

She couldn't say no. She couldn't just throw away this second chance, when Grant never got one. You never understood the importance of second chances until you believed they could never come to you. She owed him this – she couldn't throw away a second chance. She had to take it. It was all she had, all she had left of Grant. 

“I'm here,” she repeated. “And if you're willing, I'll be an agent again. I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. to help people, to protect people.” At least, that's what her mother had told her she's said about why she was joining S.H.I.E.L.D." “But that's why I'll be joining your new version. Not out of some lingering loyalty to an agency that abandoned me. I'm doing it to save lives. I'll be loyal if I sign up, because I keep my word. But if you turn out _not_ to be the good man Grant seems to think you are? I walk.” 

Coulson blinked, then nodded, his lips thin. “I appreciate that your time with Ward was very different than our experience with the man. And I'm willing to believe that he cared about you. I meant what I said when I told him that risking his freedom for you was proof that there was at least a little bit of good left in him. The fact that he left you here, with people who can _actually_ help you is only further confirmation. But Grant Ward isn't really a very good judge of what makes a man-” 

“I'll stop you right there, Coulson.” The man – he just didn't get _anything_. And the way he said 'actually'... Yes, Grant cared about her. But he had – still did – care about his team, even that bitch who broke his larynx. Despite everything they'd done to him, he still cared. And he wasn't a sociopath. That wasn't how the term worked. 

“I know Grant did things that you may never forgive.” _Even though they should. If you holier-than-thou bastards looked in a mirror and actually tried to find the truth rather than make stuff up to suit your theories, you might already have._ “But I will never drink your kool-aid on the subject of him. I will never buy your party line, and if you insist on trying to convince me of your 'truth' on the subject, I don't want to be part of your S.H.I.E.L.D. If that's a deal-breaker, let me know now.” 

Coulson breathed in sharply and the blazing fire in the back of his eyes was proof enough that he was pissed at her, at what she was saying. 

_Good._

“I don't think it will be a deal breaker. But I would also suggest that you refrain from extolling Grant Ward's 'virtues' around the people on this base. As you said, what he did was unforgivable.” 

Kara resisted the urge to correct him. She hadn't said that what Grant had done was unforgivable. She'd said they might not forgive him. It was a statement that said far more about them as people than about what Grant had done. 

“If you want to ask me more questions, you can do it after I've had a shower, changed my clothes and gotten something resembling real food in me,” Kara told him as she started to walk past him. “If you have a problem with that, too fucking bad, Director.” 

**Park, Indianapolis, Indiana**

**May 7 th, 2019**

Daughter. Grant had a daughter? How the hell? 

Questions swirled though Kara's head – who was the mother? There was no wedding ring on Grant's hand – she checked – so whoever it was, he wasn't married to her. It didn't preclude him being in a relationship with the woman but then where was the mother? If Grant was the father, then why didn't the girl look like him? It wasn't just the blonde hair either. 

_Okay, I mean, she's female and a kid, so it's hard to be very good at seeing resemblance to Grant._

But that raised the other question – how old? Kara would have thought the girl was five, maybe six, but even if Grant had gone and impregnated a woman the day after that fateful phone call, the girl couldn't even be four. 

The very idea of Grant being with someone who wasn't her – and wasn't even Skye – made Kara feel an entirely unjustifiable flash of anger. 

It was one thing that Grant refused her for Skye – he loved the woman, however much Kara couldn't understand it. But to abandon her and then - 

“Kara!?” The girl clapped her hands, “The one from the bedtime stories?!” 

_Bedtime stories? He told her bedtime stories about me?_ How – there was very little about their time together that was suitable for a little girl. What the - 

“You told her bedtime stories about her?” Skye blinked. “What the hell kind of-” 

“Skye, _if you would be so kind_ ,” Grant interrupted his tone unfailingly calm and polite, “watch your language around my daughter.” Not that Grant's tone was fooling Kara. He was upset with Skye for saying 'hell' around his daughter. Twice. But he didn't want to go off on her in front of this...Rachel. He was acting like a – like a father. 

“You're the one who helped Daddy to his feet when he tripped and fell!” Rachel said excitedly, looking at Kara. “You helped Daddy! I like you.” Rachel pulled away from Grant's hand light on her shoulder and ran to Kara, embracing her around the thighs, which about as high as the girl could easily reach. 

Kara didn't have the slightest idea of how to react. She didn't do kids. She didn't handle kids very well. Maybe she did before - she really didn't know. But she definitely didn't now. The odds of her ending up in some kind of committed, long-term relationship – or god forbid, marriage - were low, but Kara was quite firm on not wanting kids even if she did end up in such a relationship. 

Helped him when he tripped and fell? _I suppose it's the only way to tell that story_. Only way to tell it to a little girl, anyway. Completely unsure what to do, Kara patted Rachel on the head a little awkwardly. 

“I – well, I'm glad to hear that.” She didn't know what she thought about being a character in the girl's bedtime stories. 

“Ward, what the-” Skye forced herself to breathe for a moment. “What are you talking about? How do you have a _daughter?!_ ” 

“Well Skye, when a man and a woman love each other very much-” Grant started, to the sound of delighted laughter from Rachel, then Grant rolled his eyes. “She's not mine biologically. She's adopted. But she's still mine in every way that counts.” 

_Adopted?_ Despite herself, Kara let out a mental – well, no, it wasn't a sigh of relief. But that flash of anger was gone completely now. He hadn't - 

But why would he adopt a little kid? He was on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D., from Hydra, and from every federal agency with an acronym. She didn't understand – it was obvious he loved the girl, cared about her. As he'd said, he'd had 'no choice' about coming back here. He _doted_ on the girl, coming back to this park because she wanted to come back here even though he knew about the picture. 

But why? 

“That's not actually an answer to my question.” Skye pointed out. 

“The answer is a pretty long explanation and I owe my daughter an ice cream.” Grant replied. At the mention of ice cream, Rachel pulled away and went back over to her father, bouncing up and down on her feet. 

“Double scoop! Double-scoop!” 

“Rachel, we've been over this. That's too much ice cream. One scoop.” Kara couldn't see the look on Rachel's face, but she could guess the girl was pouting. “One scoop,.” Grant repeated with a small smile. “But you've been working on that pout. Keep trying.” Grant looked over at the two of them. “Are we done with the whole taking me in thing? For the moment anyway?” 

“I wasn't especially fond of the idea to begin with,” Kara replied calmly. “So yeah, I'm all for that.” She looked over to Skye who had an _insanely_ conflicted look on her face. She looked at Rachel, who was looking at the three of them curiously, clearly wondering what exactly was going on, but not interrupting. 

Skye looked back at her, her conflicted look replaced with scorn. “I should have known you'd take the first opportunity to not do this.” 

Kara rolled her eyes. “Yeah, pretty much. Coulson can go-” Kara looked at the girl and cut herself off from saying what she _wanted_ to say. “Coulson can be upset if he wants,” she corrected, “but he knew I wasn't happy about this, and at the moment, nothing's made me any happier about it.” 

“Daddy!” Rachel said, “Boring adult stuff later! Ice cream now!” However curious the girl was, sweets apparently came first. 

Grant smiled at her, “Okay, okay. Ice cream now.” He looked at Kara, flicking his eyes to Skye. She got the message, and nodded. 

She wanted answers from Grant. About the girl, about what the hell had happened in the last four years, about if he still loved Skye. 

Kara had moved on from him, mostly. Some of her feelings were still there, but she'd had four years to move on from him, and four years of knowing that Grant had loved Skye too damn much for her to have had a chance. She wouldn't deny that a small part of her wondered if there was a chance for them now – She'd had four years to find herself again, to get her closure and to help people. She wasn't exactly the same person she'd been before, and he wasn't either. Maybe there was a chance they could start over? 

Kara doubted it though, and doubted he was over Skye. She certainly wasn't going to pin any hopes on it. She was fine with being Grant's friend. And she was going to be that. Grant wasn't going to just cut off all contact again. She wasn't going to let him, even if he ran. And he should run, if Skye insisted on trying to arrest him. 

But for the moment, she'd watch his back while he got his daughter ice cream. 

Grant nodded back and looked down to his daughter. “Okay. We can go get the ice cream now.” Grant reached down and picked up his daughter – who squealed in delight again – and put her up on his shoulders, carrying her away from them, his back turned to the two of them. 

Not that he wasn't aware of them, Kara knew, but he was placing trust in her to make sure Skye wasn't going to give him a repeat of San Juan. And she would. 

Kara looked back over at Skye. “So. Are we arresting him?” 

“Those are our orders,” Skye answered flatly. There was no feeling in it. Not even hate or anger at Grant, which were emotions that usually came up when Skye talked about him. 

“Skye, I know you went through a little 'Mini-May' phase in that first year after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, but I also know you're not Coulson's little yes girl. You're pretty much the only person who can actually _argue_ with him rather than just try to overrule him like the board does.” May could sometimes argue with him, but not really. She hadn't ever met 'Mini-May', but she'd heard enough from others on the base, especially Lance. 

One of the many reasons she preferred to operate out of bases _other_ than the Playground was because Coulson's 'core team' from that time immediately after the fall still operated out of there, bar Morse. She refused to be around Simmons at all, and Fitz wasn't exactly much of an option either, given everything. Skye wasn't a preference for a laundry list of reasons, and while she respected May's abilities and her dedication to the job, spending time around her wasn't really an practical possibility either. Kara had more or less forgiven May for frying her face like that, after a while. They'd been in a fight that might well have ended in one of them dying, and in such a fight, you sometimes had to do some pretty damaging things to win – but given that she'd been stuck wearing May's face for so long... 

Well, awkward was kind of the word for it, more or less. 

Mack just plain didn't like or especially trust her – he was a man of staunch, strong and very stubborn opinions. About the only thing they had civil conversations about was the fact that neither of them were in Coulson's fan club. 

That pretty much left Lance Hunter. She hadn't expected she'd like the guy, given that he was Morse's ex-husband and very clearly still loved her, but he was hard to hate. And after the truth of that blonde bitch's handing her to Whitehall and Bakshi on a silver platter – and telling no one, hiding it from Coulson and even from Gonzales and his 'Real S.H.I.E.L.D.' - came out, Lance had been... 

Well, 'pissed off' was an understatement. He was still angry at her about the whole 'Real S.H.I.E.L.D.' infiltrating Coulson's base thing to begin with, but he'd been starting to come to terms with that as the two groups continued to integrate... but the new revelation added on? 

The end result had been that Lance and 'Bobbi' had barely spoken to each other for over a year, even after Morse had been let out of her 'house arrest'. The fact that the bitch was so visibly hurt by Lance being like that towards her had been sweet revenge on top of the treatment she got from everyone else for a long while. 

Which had been, more or less, why she'd started that two-month fling with Lance about eight months after she rejoined the agency. Yes, the sex itself was good, but mostly it was a way to make Morse even more upset and hurt. Lance had probably known that from the start, which was why both of them had gone into the thing knowing it was doomed. Because at the end of the day, Lance still loved Bobbi Morse. They'd ended things mutually and on good terms. 

Though the man had eventually made up with his ex-wife and they were even engaged (again), Kara remained mostly friendly with him. 

But Lance Hunter had been the only guy there at the Playground she actually liked spending any time around. But since he'd moved to the _Illiad_ , there was no real draw in the Playground. 

“Ward needs to be in prison,” Skye said softly. “Having a daughter doesn't mean all his crimes are suddenly forgiven.” 

“I didn't say anything of the sort.” Her four years with the new S.H.I.E.L.D. had given her a more nuanced view on the subject of Grant being forgiven by his old team. They still needed to know the damn truth, a truth that they had never actually known about why Grant had done what he'd done, about what Garrett had done to him, but forgiveness was a far, far more nuanced thing than that. Still, there was also a difference between forgiving him and not holding onto hate anymore. “But it sounds like him having a daughter changes the equation for you.” 

“I can't just arrest him in front of her. Leave her to the system?” Skye bit her lip. “The girl adores him.” 

“You don't want to take a parent away from a kid.” Kara finished. 

“Nope,” Skye agreed. “Not even a little bit. But he can't just hide behind her. And those questions Coulson has – if they're important enough for him to send us after Ward, then they're important enough that they need to be answered.” 

“Well, you can't have it both ways, Skye,” Kara replied coldly. She didn't have much sympathy for Skye's dilemma. She wasn't going to help with the arrest of Grant now. Period, end of story. “In the meantime, I'm going to go watch a clearly loving father buy his little girl some ice cream.” She walked after Grant, who was still carrying Rachel on his shoulders. 


	4. Not Happening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own AoS. It's on my Christmas list, so if anyone has it and would like to give it to me, please, please, please, do. :p I promise the first thing I'll do is fire Jeff Bell. And then I'll find a way to resurrect Kara and what the hell, bring Trip back too. 
> 
> **Note:** Kara hates Simmons. That colors everything she thinks about the good biochemist. What I think about Simmons is far less colored by the one incident than Kara. In a way, Kara is falling into the very same trap that she's saying everyone else has fallen into – she's more or less claimed that they're in a mindset of 'we're the good guys, anyone who opposes us is evil'. But when it comes to Ward, she's 'Grant is good, these people who have done all these things to him are evil'. Its not that simplistic – she doesn't entirely think either thing (either the first about the team, or the second about Ward), but Kara's perspective is hardly without bias, is my point. Especially during the 'past' scenes.

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 4: Not Happening 

**Infirmary, The Playground**

**May 10 th, 2015**

To say that Coulson was still unhappy with her would be a little bit of an understatement, but not massively so. He hadn't thrown her back into Vault D, anyway, or any other Vault, and he was proceeding with the 'making her an agent again' thing. He started with the oath. The old oath she'd sworn when she'd become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent the first time around. To serve when everything else fails. To be the last line of defense of humanity. It was... she didn't _remember_ taking the oath the first time around, but she did feel a sense of familiarity as she took it this time. Deja vu was the only way to describe it. 

The rest of the people on the base were more or less giving her a wide berth, except for _Bobbi._ But that was probably in an effort to salve her guilty conscience. Or to keep an eye on her to see if she remembered – remembered that the blonde bitch was the one who sold her out. For the moment, Kara was willing to humor her efforts. She'd wait a little while longer, wait until there were witnesses. Lots of them, like maybe that precious ex-husband of hers. 

Kara saw the looks the two gave each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. Kara wasn't exactly sure what had happened there but there was a lot to catch up on about what S.H.I.E.L.D. had been doing recently, since she'd found Grant in San Juan, since she'd been free from Whitehall. 

Whatever it was, it was obvious Morse had screwed up big time and Hunter was not being easily forgiving. 

The next step was a full physical. She'd been given some thorough medical checks when she first came in, but she needed an even more intensive check before she was formally an agent again. Probably another check for any signs of the brainwashing too. But they did need a baseline to compare against and all that. She understood the needs well enough, just as long as no one tried to remove the mask, or asked to see what her face looked like underneath it. As far as she was concerned, the only person in the world who had or ever would see what her face really looked like now was Grant. He was the only person she trusted that much. 

Like it or not – and she wasn't what one would called _thrilled_ about it – the mask was her face now. She had to wear a mask of herself. Right now, she still had May's face and General Talbott's wife's face in the mask's memory, along with her own face. And unless she was _completely_ missing her guess, the mask was a big part of why Coulson was willing to offer her a position. 

It couldn't come off, and it was just too useful a piece of tech to just let slip through his fingers. There was a practical limit to the disguises she could wear – she could hardly pass as say, Grant, or that engineer, Fitz, or Mike Peterson, but the range of options she had would be very useful for S.H.I.E.L.D. 

Kara sat on the gurney, waiting for the doctor to arrive. She heard the door open and looked over her shoulder at it to see who would be giving her the physical. 

It was the English woman. It was Simmons. 

“You're the one who's going to do the physical?” Kara didn't hide the venom in her voice. She turned around fully, standing up from the gurney. She would be damned if she ever gave Simmons the slightest look at her back. Who knew how many more of those fucking splinter bombs she had. 

_And really. Not only did she try to kill Grant, but she tried to use some of the sickest weapons Hydra has at it's disposal._ She had to dig deep into the well of inhuman monstrosity that Hydra was capable and come back out of with something truly disgusting. 

“I am. Director Coulson figured that since I checked you over earlier, before your – before your... unfortunate incarceration, I would be the best choice to-” Simmons started, her words even and calm, delivered professionally. 

“Not happening,” Kara interrupted coldly. “And I'd suggest not getting any closer to me, _Doctor._ ” 

“I'm sorry?” Simmons looked at her, lowering the clipboard to her side. _Like she doesn't know. Don't playact to me, you bitch._

“I _know_ what you tried to do to Grant, Simmons,” Kara told her, hissing the words out. To Kara's great satisfaction, Simmons recoiled. After a moment, she opened her mouth. 

“Ward-” She started, stammering the word out a little. 

“Don't even _try_ to justify yourself to me,” Kara replied, still hissing. “When I came to this base, the only person I figured I'd have to watch my back around was Skye.” _Well, and Morse, but that's a different discussion entirely_ “Turns out I was wrong. So no, you won't be giving me the physical. In fact you won't be getting any closer to me if you don't want a couple of limbs broken. You came out _alive_ from what Grant did. You and your precious engineer. And Grant was working alongside you, helping you. But you still _had_ to kill him, because obviously you can never do anything wrong, and Grant is _obviously_ the embodiment of all that is evil in this universe.” 

As she spoke, Kara felt her anger building, and really without having a moment to realize what she was doing, she reached over to the bitch and grabbed her by the front of her shirt, pulling Simmons closer to her, their faces mere inches apart. “Let me be clear: If Grant had died because of you, you would be dead. Pure and simple. That you are alive is only because you killed Bakshi instead. Great job, by the way, ridding S.H.I.E.L.D. of a guy who had more intimate knowledge of Hydra's inner workings than any six people on this base combined.” Simmons tried to speak, to defend herself or something, but again, Kara was not interested. She just kept talking: 

“What makes it worse is that upon deciding that Grant _had_ to die, you didn't just shoot him, or stab him, or try to poison him, or any number of things you could have done. Instead, you reached into the well of depravity that is Hydra's weapons R &D and used a god-damned _splinter bomb_ on him!” Kara pushed Simmons away, watching the scientists stagger a little and almost fall over. _Pity she didn't fall and get a nice concussion._ Kara closed her eyes a moment. 

That last thought – that was – it was very satisfying. Probably a little too much so. 

“Ward is a murderer and a monster.” Simmons told Kara, her tone cold and flat. “I don't know what sick lies he told you, but it's high time that you realize what he is!” 

“Not happening.” Kara repeated. “There are other doctors on this base – doctors who have M.D.s. and D.O.s rather than PhDs and who haven't killed an unarmed man in cold blood like you have. Go find one of them – because I am _not_ getting a physical from you. Not from someone who might get it into her head to throw a splinter bomb at _me_.” 

Simmons inhaled sharply, and stared at her for a long moment – Kara stared back, meeting her gaze – and then the biochemist set the clipboard down and left the infirmary. 

**Park, Indianapolis, Indiana**

**May 7 th, 2019**

Kara followed Grant and his daughter to an ice cream truck at the edge of the park. Grant took Rachel off his shoulders when he reached the truck, but held her up so she could see the list of flavors. The girl clearly knew what she wanted though, because she picked it in a second. 

“Bubblegum!” She said happily, bouncing a little in Grant's arms. Grant set her down with a smile. 

“One scoop of bubblegum ice cream.” Grant told the guy in the truck, ignoring Rachel's demand for a double scoop. “In a cup please.” He added, handing a twenty over to the man. Once Grant got his change, he turned to Kara – and looked past her, clearly checking to see if Skye had decided to come along as well. She hadn't. 

“So...guessing you have a lot of questions, right?” Grant asked her softly. 

“I think that would be kind of an understatement, don't you?” Kara replied, keeping her tone soft. “But I'll start with the obvious – why did you – _when_ did you adopt a little girl?” Why would _anyone_ on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D, Hydra and every government agency with an acronym take the risk involved in adopting a little girl? The risk to themselves, and the risk to the girl was monumental. Okay, sure, she was cute, but that was what kids did. Being cute was their survival mechanism – otherwise humanity would have been extinct a long time ago because the second generation of the human race would have been throttled to death by the first. 

“I'll answer the when first – it was three months and two days after the mission in the Arctic.” Grant told her. He turned back to the guy in the truck and accepted the cup of ice cream, which he gave to Rachel. 

“Thank you Daddy!” She said happily and started eating it. Grant looked around for a moment and pointed to a couple of kids and a parent at a picnic table. “Why don't you go say hi to Tina? Kara and I need to talk about a few things.” 

Rachel pouted for a moment, then nodded, “Can I tell her about the birthday present you got me?” 

“You mean the birthday present you're not supposed to know I bought because I told you not to open that hall closet and you did anyway?” Grant asked, a small smile on his face. 

“Yep!” Rachel answered with a laugh. “Can I? Can I?” 

“Alright,” Grant chuckled a moment – seeing him smile and chuckle with no edge or darkness to the action was... it wasn't something she was used to. Fatherhood – it had been good for him. 

“Yay!” She bounced up and down on her feet and hugged Grant for a moment, then bounded off towards the picnic table Grant had pointed out. 

Kara watched the kid, then looked over at him. Idly, she wondered just a little bit what he'd gotten her, but that really wasn't the important question. Grant stepped a short distance away from the ice-cream truck, but he was still in line of sight and easy access to where Rachel had gone off too. 

“So, three months and two days after you abandoned me 'for my own good'?” Kara hadn't meant for it to come out so bitterly, but it had. She really _didn't_ resent him as much now as she had years ago, but she still resented him a little bit. “Because there wasn't enough good left in you to help me, but there was enough for you to adopt a little girl?” 

Kara watched Grant wince and felt a mixture of satisfaction and guilt. She hadn't meant to talk like that to him so soon after finally meeting up with him again after so long. She'd played out this meeting so many times in her head over the last four years. In the early days, she was a little embarrassed to admit, the scenarios she played through in her head involved Grant proclaiming his love for her and meaning it...and usually something unpleasant happening to Skye along the way. They'd since become far more realistic and less spiteful. But that didn't change the fact that at no point had she predicted Grant having a daughter – or even a child of any type – and... 

Well, it had thrown her completely off and left her without any idea how to react. She was off her game, and so she was letting resentment rise to the top – because really. He'd abandoned her because he felt he wasn't good enough to help her. 

_And yet he felt good enough to raise a kid? What the hell?_

Still. She didn't need to dominate the first conversation they'd had in four years with bitterness. She took a breath. “Sorry.” 

Grant shook his head. “No, - it's understandable.... Believe me, becoming a father wasn't part of the plan. And given...everything, no one s more surprised that I've turned out to be a halfway decent father than me.” He looked over to where Rachel was talking animatedly with a little kid her age at the picnic table and added softly, “At least, I like to think I'm a halfway decent father.” The note of insecurity in his voice – there was the Grant she knew. The Grant who had been broken down by his family, rebuilt by Garrett, then snapped into pieces again and only poorly glued together in the aftermath. 

“What little I've seen tells me that you're orders of magnitude better than your role models,” Kara said after a moment. Better than Garrett and better than his father weren't exactly major achievements, but they were something. They were what Grant would be afraid of being. “But what happened then? Why did you adopt her?” 

“A while after..after I left you behind, I started working some of the intel we got from Bakshi – leftover remnants of Whitehall's organization, and what info he had on other Hydra cells in the States. When I was clearing out one of their safe-houses, I came across a partially-destroyed file detailing a strike team that had been sent to kill or capture two former S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists, Doctors Arthur and Rebecca Haselrun.” 

Kara blinked. For some reason, the names sounded vaguely familiar. Ever so vaguely. But she couldn't place them for the life of her. “I know those names,” she said after a moment. 

“They were two of the agency's top geneticists.” Grant told her. “They studied people on the Index – what made them powered, that sort of thing.” Kara nodded. She wasn't familiar – she didn't think she ever had been – with the intimate details of the way the pre-fall S.H.I.E.L.D. had managed the Index. She knew that the horror stories they'd run into among some of the Inhumans about dissections and macabre experiments were pure bullshit. That was what Hydra did, and they had to keep that stuff very secret from the rest of the agency. The only time anything even close to that happened with actual authorization was when a gifted was killed because they'd proven themselves to be too much of a threat to others. At that point, they weren't exactly using their lifeless corpse. 

The current Index, though, was _very_ lenient towards gifteds. Which, given that it was run by Skye and a few other gifteds turned-agents, was hardly surprising. At the end of the day, while it was 'adequate' to the purpose of the Index, the system almost certainly meant that some gifteds were falling through the cracks. Gifteds who could, for example, be recruited to 'Hydra 4.0.', which might explain how the hell the current incarnation of the never to be sufficiently damned organization had so many powered people working for it right now. _There's a reason the Index was created in the first place._

Powered people who _weren't_ Inhuman and thus couldn't be traced to those damn fish oil pills. _And have I ever thanked you for that, Skye?_ As far as Kara knew, S.H.I.E.L.D. had managed to account for every single one of those contaminated bottles, but the former Agent 33 figured there were a few – at least – of the fucking things floating around and ready to awaken an unsuspecting Inhuman-descendent. 

Finally, Kara spoke, “Rachel's parents?” It wasn't hard to tell that that was the direction of Grant's story. 

  
“Rachel's parents,” Grant confirmed. “I don't know exactly what they'd been getting up to since S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, but we know how much the post-Pierce Hydra was obsessed with powered people.” Kara had to nod at that as well. With Strucker, List and Whitehall leading the way, the Hydra that had come out of the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. had proven to have an unhealthy – and in the end, utterly unproductive – obsession with powered people. Given that 'Hydra 4.0' had an inexplicable number of powered people working for it... well, Kara wasn't the only one to suspect a link. 

Hydra's motto wasn't all just posturing. Hydra's backup plans had backup plans, which in turn had fallbacks and contingencies and exit strategies always built into them. Hydra before the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. had probably had a half-dozen revivals all arranged in case they were needed. 

The connection between the obsession that Strucker, List and Whitehall's Hydra had had with powered people, and the use of powered people that 'Hydra 4.0' was showing was harder to make given that 'Hydra 3.0' had had nothing to do with powered people. Their methods and motives had been far more...down to earth. 

It was a confusing pile of confusion however you looked at it. But that was the whole point. Cut off one head, two grow back. 

“So I'm guessing you didn't get there in time to save the parents?” 

“Nope. And none of the Hydra operatives came out of that fight alive, so I don't know exactly what Hydra wanted with the Haselruns, but at the end of the day, their resume would be explanation enough. When I got there, the team was busy rifling through computers and paperwork and photo albums. I didn't expect to find a six-month old kid,” Grants smiled, “Well, six months and seven days, she'd insist if she was listening.” Kara did some quick mental math. From what Grant was saying, he'd found the girl on August 1 st, 2015. If she was six months and seven days old at that point, then her birth-date was January 25th, 2015. Which made the girl almost four and a half years old now. “I didn't expect Hydra to leave anyone alive, kid or not. Maybe they were planning on taking her in and turning her into a raised from birth killer. Or maybe they just hadn't gotten around to killing her.” 

“And you just – what?” Kara asked softly. “Saw the baby's eyes and suddenly had to adopt her?” 

“It wasn't that simple,” Grant told her softly. “I was going to take her to an orphanage, just leave her there, with a forged birth certificate and an invented name. And then...” He frowned. “I remembered...” He looked around again, and then continued. “Back before...before Hydra rose up, Skye told me about growing up an orphan – an orphan who didn't know her name, didn't know where she came from, didn't know who her parents were or why they'd abandoned her. Didn't know her own damn birthday. Bouncing around the foster-care system, never being a good fit, never wanted...” 

“As...ridiculous as it sounds, even saying it now, I just...I just didn't want to let any child go through that if I could help it. So I had new identities made for the both of us and I came here. As far as the world is concerned, Rachel Rebecca Castor is the legally adopted daughter of Daniel Smith Martel.” 

“You don't look like a Daniel,” Kara said softly. She smiled a little though – Grant was trusting her with his cover. If he had doubts about her willingness to hand information over to Coulson and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. he wouldn't tell her this much. So he trusted her – and well he should. She wasn't going to arrest him, and she wasn't going to give Coulson information that could help him arrest Grant. “And why Indianapolis? This is like the most Midwestern largish city in the country. In the most Midwestern state.” 

“I didn't pick my name. It was what the identities guy I used could do. Getting him to let Rachel keep her name and have her mother's name as her middle name was hard enough,” Grant explained. “As for why here – simple enough. Indianapolis is big enough to disappear into, but not big enough or important enough to have the kind of coverage by S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra and the government alphabet soup that would make it impossible for me to live in a place like L.A. or New York.” 

An accurate assessment. “As far as I'm concerned, Coulson can go fuck himself on the subject of your arrest.” Now that Rachel was out of earshot, Kara had no reason to moderate her language. Her plan, originally, had been to make sure Grant got arrested without injury, then help him escape once he'd told Coulson whatever it was the man needed to know. And given that she'd tell Grant as much, he wouldn't – hopefully – be obstinate about it. 

But now... she couldn't go with that strategy. Because Grant had a kid and even the shortest timespan in her plan had been a few days. There was no way they could take Grant away from the daughter he clearly had grown to love and clearly loved him for even a few days. Who the hell would take care of her in the interim? She _wouldn't_ handle it well, Kara could guess. 

Kara had, to her surprise, grown to respect and even like Philip Coulson over the years, but no matter how she might mostly – but not completely – trust him, there was no way that she was ever going to pick him over Grant. Depending on how exactly she handled it, she probably wouldn't end up burning all her bridges. But if she did, she did. 

But given that firing her meant losing the abilities the mask gave her – well, Coulson wasn't an idiot. Her unique capacity for infiltration and disguises didn't mean that she had a free pass, but Coulson had sent her on this mission knowing full well she had no interest in Grant's arrest. His fault. 

“How do you think Coulson is going to take that?” Grant asked. 

“Badly. Probably.” Kara replied with a shrug. She looked around for Skye. She couldn't find the woman, and wondered where she was, what she was up to. “If we want to catch up more, this really isn't the place to do it. Skye could show up at any time and ruin the mood.” She smirked a little. “And I really don't have to stay on the clock at the moment.” Kara took out her S.H.I.E.L.D. issue phone and dialed a number. She held it up to her face and waited for Agent Billy Koenig to pick up on the other end. 

“Hi. Billy? You know how you've been pestering me to take that time off before the end of the month? You know, the time I haven't used in the last year? Well, I'm taking it now. See everyone in two weeks.” Smirking, she hung up, then tossed the phone into some nearby trees, letting it smash against one. It broke _way_ too easily – but then, they were designed so an agent could destroy them easily if they needed to. 

Kara looked over at him. “I've got at least a few hours before Coulson gets told about that, and technically, I'm using two and a half weeks of vacation days. And we have that much to catch up on, don't we?” 

Grant blinked. “Wait, you get vacation days?” 


	5. You're Sorry!?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** I still don't own AoS. I really, really, really don't.
> 
>  
> 
> **Note:** This fic will be Skyeward. And Skye is going to play a major role in the main story. However, for the next few chapters, Skye won't be showing up  
>  'onscreen' in the present scenes. She will be discussed, but bear with me. If not seeing Skye onscreen for a while is a concern, a solution could be to  
>  hold off reading for a few chapters and then coming back for when Skye comes back (and then you can read through them all in one go or whatever).
> 
>  
> 
> **Note 2:** Yes, Kara is going to be more than a little hypocritical here. She's human, she's pissed off and she has a biased POV.
> 
>  
> 
> **Note 3:** The past scene of Kara confronting Bobbi will be split across two chapters, because otherwise it would _be_ the entire chapter.
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks to Riley Holden/Colormeblue and LisaMichelle25 for beta-reading this fic.

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 5: You're _Sorry!?_

**Training Room, The Playground**

**May 13 th, 2015**

As she'd expected, Coulson had some words on her unwillingness to let Simmons give her the physical, Kara didn't tell him why she wouldn't – and Simmons had kept the details of the 'conversation' quiet as well. _And so Coulson gets to be kept in the dark about another fun little fact of his precious organization._

But she had gotten her physical, she had been cleared and Kara was more or less officially an agent again. She hadn't gone on any missions, but at the moment, no one was going on any missions. The entire agency had been through the wringer with 'Inhumans' and Coulson losing his hand and the near loss of the _Illiad._ Kara hadn't interacted with the rest of the agents, and the rest were still kind of giving her a wide berth. She was fine with that, for the moment. She was still getting used to... everything. It was fortunate that the Playground was a hell of a lot larger than it needed to be, because it meant that she could take a room some distance away from the rest of the people, who had mostly grouped together in one wing of the living spaces. 

Right now though, Kara was in the training room, watching Bobbi spar with Mack. While the man was making a very strong showing of himself, Agent Morse was winning. _Of course she is. But the next fight isn't one she's going to 'win'._ Of course, that was because Kara had no interest in fighting _fair._

One of the things she'd constantly thought about in her cell, apart from Grant, was Morse. How she was going to make the bitch pay for what she did. Kara still found the idea of torturing the blonde specialist appealing, but she was also aware that it wasn't exactly an option. She'd made her choice to rejoin S.H.I.E.L.D. both for Grant, and for herself. Torturing Agent Morse wasn't exactly going to be looked on kindly. 

So any cost that Morse paid was going to have to be less direct and less... visceral. Kara didn't have a good answer as to what that could be. But right now, Kara wasn't really thinking _that_ far ahead. Right now, she just wanted to hurt Bobbi. Torture her? No, she wouldn't be able to get away with that. Hurt her in a fight while throwing everything that Morse did into the bitch's face? That she could do. 

Kara watched Morse finally pin Mack down and the black man tap out. He got off the mat and grabbed a towel, wiping down his face. 

“Another round?” Morse asked, taking a drink from a bottle of water. 

Mack held up a hand. “I don't think so. Not right now, anyway.” Kara took the opening. 

“I'm up for a match.” Kara said as she stepped forward. 

Bobbi raised an eyebrow, but then lowered it and nodded. “Sure.” She stepped back and gave Kara some room to step onto the mat. She flexed her arms a little, and Kara did the same. 

“Did we ever go any rounds before?” Kara asked, making idle conversation. “You said we knew each other, before... everything.” She gestured, as if she couldn't find the right words to use. She knew the words – _before you fed m_ _e_ _to Whitehall and Bakshi to keep your cover. Before you didn't do_ _ **anything**_ _to help get me out of the hell you put me in and before you didn't even tell Coulson or your real boss in Gonzales. You just left me there, to suffer in silence._

Bobbi shook her head. “We knew each other, but we didn't spend that much time together. We were on the same mission a few times, but mostly it was just passing each other in the Triskellion break room or what have you.” It was an odd thing to think of, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters having break rooms, but like any large building that was mostly desk jobs, they pretty much had to have them. 

“So I'll guess we're going into this fight blind. We don't know who's better,” Kara smirked. “Ready?” 

Bobbi shook her head. “One sec-” Kara hadn't even waited for Bobbi to finish. She was already on the move, driving her fist into the blonde's stomach and kicking out at her legs, sweeping them from under her. The wind knocked out of her, Bobbi rolled and jumped to her feet, despite Kara's efforts to pin her to the ground. 

“What the hell?” Bobbi asked, a completely straight face asking the next question as she threw a punch at Kara. “What did I do to piss you off?” Kara blocked the punch and sent in one of her own, going for the face. Bobbi grabbed Kara's hand and sent her spinning back, barely keeping her footing. 

_She's good._

“What did you do?” Kara managed to keep from screaming it, letting it just be a scoff as she came at the woman again. “What did you do?” Her attacks were blocked, and took a hit to the shoulder that send her reeling. “Did you really think I wouldn't find out? That I wouldn't know what you _did?_ ” Just as Kara had hoped, that reveal left Bobbi thrown for just a moment. And Kara used it for all it was worth. She drove her fists into Bobbi's stomach again, sending her staggering back. 

Unfortunately, she was so focused on Agent Morse that she missed Mack coming up from behind her and grabbing onto her arm from behind, pulling her away from that blonde bitch. “Let me go!” Kara kicked back at Mack's leg, getting his knee. He grunted in pain but didn't let her go. 

“I don't know what you-” Bobbi started, but Kara interrupted. 

“Don't bother. You're the one who sold out the safe-house I was in, _Agent Morse._ ” Kara spat. “Look me in the eye and tell me that's not the truth.” Mack's grip slackened a little on her arm, and she slipped free. 

“Kara-” Bobbi started, her voice firm. She had one hand on her stomach. She took a breath. “What happened to-” 

“What _you_ did to me, bitch!” Kara replied coldly. “Don't talk about it like it's something you hadnothing to do with. You sold out my safe-house. You let me get brainwashed, you left me there! You didn't tell Coulson. You didn't even tell Gonzales. You practically _fed_ me to Hydra!” 

Bobbi was standing stiffly, unmoving. “What happened to you was a tragedy, Kara.” 

“Not good enough, bitch.” Kara started forward, but Mack grabbed at her arm again. This time Kara spun around and kicked Mack. He took the kick well, not going back more than a step. “This is between the two of us! Stay the hell back.” 

“Say your piece, but I'm not going to let you just beat on her,” Mack replied. He looked past her to Bobbi. “What the hell, Bobbi?” 

“I had to convince Hydra I'd turned,” Bobbi said, speaking as one might speak to an wild animal – trying to calm things down in a gentle, firm tone. It only made Kara _more_ pissed. “I had to make a choice – give up a safe-house, give up _one_ agent, or blow my cover and risk losing intelligence that could get two dozen or more agent's killed. The lives of the many outweigh the needs of the one. You swore an oath to give your life to protect-” 

“Yes. An oath to _give_ my life. To make that choice myself!” Kara spat. “Not to have my life given away by someone else, as a fucking pawn!” Kara ignored the fact that Mack was behind her and drove her fist right into that bitch's self-possessed face. As far as Kara was concerned, Bobbi hadn't had _near_ enough pain. Her nose was still intact for one. 

Bobbi fell back, reeling. Kara hadn't heard a crunch, so she figured the nose was still whole, but at least she'd busted opened the other woman's lip. 

“I made that oath, yes. But I also made that oath going into an agency that promised that they'd never leave a man behind. That every person, every agent mattered!” Kara pointed at the ground. “That's supposed to be the whole point – being _part_ of something bigger. You gave me over to Hydra.” 

“I made the hard call. I made the call I had to make to save more lives.” Bobbi said. “I'm sorry-” The other woman's voice was softer, but Kara was barely listening. 

“ _Sorry!_ You're _**sorry?!**_ ” Kara scoffed. “I'm so _thrilled_ to hear that you're 'sorry'. Because you feeling bad about what you did to me is such a comfort when I wake up screaming from the nightmares I still have. I wish I'd have known you were sorry sooner! It would have helped _so_ much when the nightmares were a nightly occurrence. I'm so _glad_ to know that you're sorry. That you're sorry I was kidnapped, tortured for days, brainwashed and turned into a fucking _puppet!_ The only reason I wasn't fucking _raped_ while I was with Hydra was because Whitehall didn't like his things being touched by other people. Did you stop to think about what me being brainwashed would actually _mean_ , bitch?” To her satisfaction, she saw a slight – _very_ slight flinch on Bobbi's face. 

“Sorry can't bring back my memories! I don't remember my own childhood! I don't remember what music I liked, what I liked to eat, what my hopes and dreams as a kid were. I don't remember _any_ of it! So yes, I'm so _happy_ to hear that you're sorry.” Kara closed eyes a moment and dropped her mask, letting her burned and scarred face be bared for all the world to see. “Can your apologies give me my face back? Can they make it so I don't have a fucking mask _fused_ to my face for the rest of my life?!” Bobbi started to look away from her face but Kara wasn't having that. “Look at it, Bobbi! Look at what you did to me!? This is your fault a _hell_ of a lot more than it is May's!” Kara started to reach out, to grab Agent Morse's face and **force** her to look at what she'd done, but the woman had the guts to face her crimes head on at least. 

“Can your apologies undo all the _hell_ I went through? All so you could keep your precious cover? A cover you were all too willing to abandon for _Simmons_! So she was more important? You could risk your intel for her?” 

“I had my orders. Keeping Simmons alive was-” Bobbi started, trying to marshal a defense. Kara didn't care. She was barely listening. 

“Yes. Orders. Orders from Coulson. Orders from Gonzales. But you _never_ got any orders that were related to me, did you? Because you _never told them!_ ” Kara closed her eyes a moment, letting the mask come back up to her face. “You never told them I was brainwashed, so I just got _left_ there on that hotel floor! Yes, you made the hard call. You had to save more lives – _fine_ , let's give you that. Let's pretend it was okay to just _feed_ me to Hydra. But you _left_ me there! I held out for as long as I could because I _knew_ that S.H.I.E.L.D. would come for me. Because I _believed_ in this agency!” Kara had no idea if that's actually what she'd believed, but it's what she'd apparently said constantly as she'd resisted Bakshi and Whitehall's efforts, held out against the Faustus Method for as long as she could. 

“You didn't just take my mind, my identity, my face and my memories from me. You took my belief in this agency!” She pointed at the ground, the building they stood in. “You took _everything_ from me. And you didn't tell the rest of the agency. What was it? Was I not worth saving? Was I not worth the effort? What was it that made you the one who got to decide, _Bobbi!_ What was it?” 

“So no,” Kara finished, taking one step closer to her. “You don't get to say 'sorry' and have it all be done. There's nothing you can ever say or do that will make me forgive you. _Nothing_.” 

**Park, Indianapolis, Indiana**

**May 7 th, 2019**

“Yeah, we get vacation days. Dr. Garner insisted on them a few months after he became S.H.I.E.L.D's in-house psychologist. We said we needed a period of time when we could be off and not get called in unless it really is a worldwide emergency. But I've only taken them when I'm forced to. Until this time.” 

“You'd get bored.” Grant nodded “I always hated downtime between missions if it lasted for more than few days.” 

“And what does Daniel Martel do, then, that's so interesting?” Kara asked, a slight teasing in her tone. If Grant was raising a kid, which he was, he wasn't going to do anything too dangerous, anything that might risk attracting attention from S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra. So whatever he did was probably _very_ boring. 

“He teaches self-defense.” Grant replied. He held up a hand, “Yes, very boring. But it pays the bills and lets me buy Rachel toys or ice cream and so on when she's good, so it's well worth the boredom.” He looked over at the blonde girl who was chatting animatedly with a girl her age, bouncing on her feet a little as they talked. _He really does love her._ Not that Kara was surprised. If Grant didn't love the kid, he'd have given her to an orphanage or someone else – he was raised by absolutely loveless parents. He knew what it was like. 

“You really do love her.” Kara said aloud. 

Grant looked back over to her and nodded. “Like I said, she's mine in every way that matters.” He looked around for a moment, pensive, then he looked back at her. “So, two and a half weeks vacation. I suppose you'll want a hotel recommendation?” Kara didn't dignify that with a response and Grant smiled after a pause. “Or you could just stay at my place. My couch folds out, though its never actually been used that way before.” 

“Better.” _Fold out couch..._ she hadn't really expected that they'd jump into anything, if anything between them was possible. Four years gave a woman a lot to think about a guy. Four years ago, Grant had still been in love with Skye, whatever his protestations, and she'd... well, she'd not really been in the best of places. She wasn't sure if she had loved him then or if she'd loved the idea of him. One of the things she'd wanted to find out – still wanted to find out – upon setting out on this mission was if there was any chance for her and Grant. They were both different people, and while she didn't 'love' him the same way she had four years ago, she could definitely see herself loving him – and... well, as potential significant others go, Grant was... well, really great. Starting from the way he looked to... well, everything else about him. He cared, he was... he was attentive to everything, could cook- 

Kara put the thought aside in her mind. Right now, it wasn't going to be a thing just yet. She needed to get to know the new Grant and he needed to get to know her. And she needed to know if he still loved Skye. Because that was, unfortunately, still within the realm of possibility. 

“We should probably go before Skye finally picks her jaw off the ground and decides to make a thing out of bringing you in.” Kara pointed out. “You wouldn't happen to have a bug-sweeper on you, would you?” She didn't _think_ she had any bugs on her or trackers on her, but she couldn't be one hundred percent sure, and she wasn't going to lead S.H.I.E.L.D. to where Grant lived – which was why she'd destroyed her phone not five minutes ago. 

Grant nodded. “I suppose you're right. And yes, I do. This is me, remember?” Grant added, pointing to himself. He looked over to Rachel and gestured for her to come to him. Rachel responded by pouting, and Kara just watched him raise an eyebrow and nod. With another pout, Rachel presumably said goodbye to her friend and said friend's family, and hurried over to Grant. 

  
“Why do we have to go now Daddy! We've only been here for an hour!” She bounded up in front of him, holding onto her empty ice-cream cup. 

Grant pulled a pocket watch – a _pocket watch?_ \- out of his jeans and looked at it. “It's been nearly two hours since we got here. You wanted to watch that one show, you know, the ones with the Unicorns... what's it called?” He smiled. 

“Rainbow Kingdom, silly!” Rachel jumped up and down. “I forgot! Hurry, hurry!” She gave a shooing gesture. “We need to get home!” 

Ward handed Kara the pocket watch. “Press down here,” he pointed to a spot on the outside of it, what looked like part of a design – and run it over yourself. If it beeps, it's found a bug or a tracker.” He spoke quietly, with a careful murmur so Rachel wouldn't overhear. 

Kara nodded and pressed the spot running it over her arms and legs first, checking. No sign of anything, thankfully. She followed after Grant and Kara and found herself in front of a small car – a Honda hybrid. Grant pressed a button on his key fob and the hood of the car opened. He tossed her the keys and Kara caught them on instinct. “Check the trunk for me, will you?” Kara didn't need to ask what for. _Bombs. Trackers. Bugs. People._ One could never be too paranoid. Especially not when an alphabet soup of government agencies and _two_ terrorist organizations were out to get you. 

“Daddy!” Rachel jumped up and down. “We need to get home! You don't need to look inside thecar _every time_ to see if it works!” 

“We will get there on time,” Grant replied, looking under the hood as Kara opened the trunk slowly. The whole checking – including the underside of the car – was done in maybe a minute. He opened the back door for Rachel and the passenger side-door for Kara. “Who told you that I don't need to check the car?” 

“Jimmy! He says he asked his dad, and his dad works on cars, and his dad said you don't need to check!” Rachel said, buckling in. “So you don't need to check.” 

“Well, you can tell Jimmy that my car doesn't work like normal cars. It's run by magic.” Grant looked into the backseat, smirking.  
  
“Daddy! It doesn't run on magic!” Rachel smiled and giggled. 

_Of course, one of the other things I'll need to know,_ Kara considered as Grant started the car, _is if I can handle her. Because I'm pretty sure that even if Grant and I do start something, she's always gonna come first._ She'd just met the girl, and sure, she was cute and kind of endearing, but still, she was so _bubbly_ – good, loving father or not, she had trouble believing Grant had raised her for her to turn out so _happy_ all the time. And kids were always going to grate on her. 

But one way or the other, the most likely being just friends – which she really was happy with -, she'd have to deal with the girl. _At the very least, tolerate her._ She'd just encountered Rachel, so the last... fifteen minutes – not even that much – were hardly illustrative of her in total. 

“Does she ever calm down?” Kara asked quietly as they drove out of the park's parking lot. 

Grant shook her head as Rachel began talking animatedly about the cartoon she wanted to go home and watch. “Not really. Only when she's tired, and even then she refuses to go to bed until I insist, even when she's yawning and zoning out for a few seconds here and there. I've had to carry her into bed when she falls asleep outside it plenty of times.” Kara could just imagine Grant carrying the little girl to her bed while she slept. 

“Sounds exhausting.” 

Grant shrugged, “She's pretty well behaved.” He looked back at Rachel a moment, still smiling a little and then turned his eyes back to the road. 


	6. What You Were Hiding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** Don't own it. 
> 
> **Note 1:** The Conclusion of the Kara/Bobbi confrontation. And we get to see Lance as well. 
> 
> **Note 2:** For me, when I think of Huntingbird as a pairing, the establishing lines, the lines that are at the center of their entire relationship is when Bobbi goes: “Will you never trust me?” and Lance shakes his head and says “But I'll never stop wanting to.” Lance loves her, and wants to trust her, but because of their past, feels like he can't – but between when he says that and the Real S.H.I.E.L.D. revelations, he's starting (starting) to develop trust for her again – and then Real S.H.I.E.L.D. and we all know how that went. Any ability to trust her and forgive her was gone – he probably would have, given time, talked it out with her and forgiven her (though an interesting development would be for him to not). The writers then went on to end-run any sort of real reconciliation between the two of them by having Ward kidnap her, et cetera, et cetera. The really are going to have to have a chat about trust issues at some point.   
>    
>  BUT, my point is that right here and now, Hunter does not trust Bobbi, he's angry at her, and he's probably got that moment when he resumed his sexual relationship with Bobbi on the mind, because that's when his process of beginning to trust her (and thus getting burned) started – and right before that, was the moment where Bobbi stops Bakshi from revealing what she did to ingratiate herself with Hydra (i.e. hand Kara over) 
> 
> Thanks to Riley Holden/Colormeblue and LisaMichelle25 for beta-reading 

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 6: What You Were Hiding 

**Training Room, The Playground**

**May 13 th, 2015**

“Bobbi. What she's saying: is it true?” Mack asked carefully, looking from one to the other. “You already said you gave her up, but not telling-” 

“If I'd told Coulson _or_ Gonzales, and they went to rescue her, Hydra would have known. They would have made me-” Bobbi started. Kara didn't let her finish. More lies. More nonsense. 

“ _Bullshit!_ You could have told _someone_. Told someone so that I wouldn't have been left behind time after time – _twice_ S.H.I.E.L.D. could have taken me in after I was beaten. But they didn't because they thought I _chose_ to join Hydra! Because you didn't tell _anyone!_ ” Kara's hands were still in fists and she lashed out at Bobbi, trying to grab at the woman's head, intending to bring it down onto her knee. But Agent Morse didn't just stand there and take it. Kara's arm was grabbed – Kara resisted against the twist but the blonde woman's grip was too tight and she was flipped, landing on her back with a heavy thunk. She was fortunate for the mats. 

“I made the best call I could with what I knew at the time, Kara,” Bobbi replied, her tone harsh, unforgiving. “It wasn't nice, it wasn't pretty, and maybe it was the wrong call. Maybe you're right. But it's the call I made, and an apology is all I can give you. Do you think I don't wish things turned out differently? Do you think I don't have to carry the guilt of what I did to you?” _This isn't about your guilt, bitch! This is about what you did to me!_ Bobbi's voice went low, kind of hollow, “I have to live with what I did, and you have to live with what you went through.” 

Bobbi let go of Kara's arm and the former Agent 33 was on her feet in a heartbeat. “What happened to you because of what I did was a tragedy. But there's nothing I can do but say I'm sorry. If that's not enough for you-” 

Kara didn't let her finish. She kicked out, sweeping Bobbi's legs out from under her, sending _her_ sprawling. “No. there's plenty left that you can do. There's plenty left that you can suffer.” 

Mack stepped forward again. “You said your piece.” Kara's hands balled into fists again. But before she could lash out at _him_ , get him out of the way so she could go back to making sure Bobbi paid for what she did, the engineer looked over at Bobbi. “She's right though. You should have told someone. Not even sure you should have made the trade in the first place. Trading the lives of our own – that's not what the Real S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded on. That's one of the mistakes of the old agency made. You went to the _Illiad_ to rescue just Gonzales and blow the carrier, and we didn't do that. Because we decided that the lives of our own were worth more than that. That we could win without making those sacrifices.” Mack shook his head, then turned around, looking at Kara. “What she did was wrong. But I'm not going to stand here and watch you make this all about her feeling pain. I'm not gonna pretend I know what you went through. But it's pretty clear you took a wrong lesson out of the time that you were under Hydra's control if you think inflicting pain is the way to solve anything.” 

“No, making her hurt was just profoundly satisfying.” Kara replied. “And if you'd like to get out of the way, I can get back to that. But pain isn't the real way she's going to suffer.” Kara smirked. “There're cameras everywhere in this base, remember? This conversation – it's been recorded. I'm going to make sure _everyone_ knows what you did. Do you really think most of the rest of the agency is going to trust you? That most of these agents are going to trust you to watch their back? To be the backup, or extraction? You've already proven that you're willing to make the call to sacrifice someone all by yourself. And then you hid what you did. Not because you were worried about your cover getting blown, but because you were ashamed of what you did.”” 

Kara smirked. “That's why you pushed Bakshi the way you did.” That had been an interesting revelation from Bakshi, when they'd tapped him for every bit of information he'd had about what had happened to her, how she'd ended up in Hydra's hands. It had confirmed, largely, that Morse hadn't told anyone else – and didn't _want_ anyone else to know. Because you didn't want anyone to know about your deep, dark secret.” She spread her arms. “Well, news flash! The whole base, the whole damn agency, is going to know about it.” 

“That's what you were hiding? That's what you-” Kara turned at the sound of the English accent behind her. It was male, and the only male Brit on the base was Lance Hunter. Morse's ex-husband. _Well, I didn't_ _expect him to be seeing it._ _At least not right now._

“Is she telling the truth, Bobbi?” Hunter stepped forward, into the room. “Is that the dirty laundry you didn't want Bakshi to lay out? Or was there something _else_ you did you were even more afraid he'd tell everyone?” He sounded... angry. Maybe a note of disgust, and Kara could definitely hear the disappointment in his voice. 

“Lance...” Bobbi started, voice low, and Kara could hear sincere pain at Lance's words, at his anger, but he just shook his head. 

“Don't even – and you wonder why I have trouble _trusting_ you, Bobbi. You came onto this base with false pretenses and when I started trying to figure out why, tried to understand what game you were running, you started things back up with me, trying to keep me from figuring it out. I guess I do know where the angles end with you. They don't. Everything for the mission, everything for S.H.I.I.E.L.D. I just thought it was me you were always going to toss overboard. Turns out everything else is free game too! Other people, right and wrong-” 

“Don't even try to play that with me, Lance!” Bobbi lashed out at him, rising to her feet, her tone harsh and biting. Kara stepped back, giving the two space and wishing she had popcorn. She hadn't really expected this kind of reaction, especially not right now, but it was definitely fun. She'd hoped for a negative reaction, some shock and horror. But not... not this. Definitely fitting though. _Though I think having a chance to beat her up some more would have been more satisfying._ “You were a mercenary! You killed people for money!” 

“I fought _wars_ for money!” Lance corrected. “And at least I didn't lie about what I did, and I had lines. Standards. Both in who I worked for and what I did. You don't, apparently.” There was a defensiveness in his tone now, and Kara suspected he'd used that line before. “And don't try and turn this back around on me, Bobbi. This about you, and the fact that everything you say – I can't trust that it's not a lie, that you aren't working an angle.” He shook his head, “I came here thinking we could talk, work things out, but-” He shook his head again. The former mercenary turned around, starting for the exit, and the pained expression on Morse's face was... _Well, it might not be as viscerally satisfying as beating her to a pulp, but it's something._

“I suppose that's a nice start to no one on this base trusting you.” Kara told Morse, not bothering to hide the smugness in her voice. 

“Shut it and sod the bloody hell off.” Lance told her as he passed her on his way out. Kara supposed she wasn't surprised that he was unhappy with her. She shrugged, spared one last smirk for Agent Morse and walked out of the training room. It wasn't enough. Not by a longshot. But she'd never have enough. Not unless Bobbi went though _everything_ she went though... 

_Subjecting Bakshi to the Faustus Method was bad enough. It was the only way to get any information out of him, and – he did deserve it, but still..._

Kara wanted to subject Bobbi to every little torture – electrical wires to the face included – that she'd ever gone through, but she also... didn't. It wasn't right. There was a moral line of revenge and closure that... she really shouldn't cross. _I'm supposed to be one of the good guys – hell, I_ _**want**_ _to be one of the good guys._

_I suppose I can almost see the appeal of Hydra right about now. I'm pretty sure they'd have no problem with me torturing the hell out of Bobbi._

Kara shook her head, banishing the thought. She really didn't want to be thinking like that. 

**Daniel Martel's Apartment, Indianapolis, Indiana**

**May 7 th, 2019**

Kara hadn't expected Grant – sorry, Daniel Martel – to be living in an apartment. He liked a lot of space, and even the nicest apartments were more constricted. But she supposed it made sense – Grant almost certainly had all kinds of money, from his drop boxes all over the country. His and Garretts. Possibly even access to a few Hydra accounts. Not endless supplies maybe, but enough to own a house. 

_But I'm pretty sure 'self-defense instructor' doesn't make the money needed to cover that._ Apartments had their advantages, but they also had their disadvantages, and this building looked nice. Neat lawns, an actual playground – small one – with a couple kids currently on it out front. So it was an apartment that 'Daniel Martel' lived in – but it was an apartment that was probably more expensive than most. 

“Am I going to have to start calling you Daniel?” Kara asked quietly as they parked the car. 

“Only around my neighbors,” Grant replied. “Rachel's friends with some of the other kids here, so I have to interact with some of them. Fortunately they're not that nosy.” He shrugged, “If I was a completely asocial loner, that would draw too much attention too.” 

“I do know how it works, Grant,” Kara pointed out with a laugh. Grant rolled his eyes at her and got out of the car, opening a back door for Rachel and picking her up. The little girl giggled as he did so, letting him carry her to the entrance to the apartment building, Kara walking close behind. She could tell that despite having his daughter in hand, Grant was still keeping a close eye on his surroundings, and Kara was as well. No signs of anyone watching them, no signs they'd been followed. 

_But now that Coulson knows that Grant is in town, for sure, he's going to bring in more manpower, start asking people in that park._ It was all too likely that if he really wanted to get his hands on Grant, he'd pull out more stops. The only question was how much he wanted Grant. And how much he wanted those questions he had for Grant answered. 

_It's been four years and Grant has done nothing to attract their attention. They can and should leave him alone. He's not going to do anything as long as he's got his little girl._ Were someone else in charge of the agency, she might wonder at the safety of Rachel – that maybe she'd get kidnapped at some point, grabbed to ensure Grant's co-operation. 

But Coulson wasn't going to order that, and for it to even happen, Grant would have to let the girl out of his sight for any length of time. From the looks of it, that wasn't a common thing. 

Once they were inside, Grant set Rachel down gently with an exaggerated 'oof'. Rachel raced ahead of him towards the elevator and leapt up, pressing the up button. She only barely reached it but she seemed happy nonetheless that she'd managed to read it. She looked over at him, a serious and magnanimous look on her face. “You can press the button for our floor, Daddy.” 

“I can?” Grant raised an eyebrow, and despite herself, Kara rolled her eyes a little at the stupid grin on his face. “Cool!” With a 'ding' sound, the elevator doors opened and Kara followed the father and daughter inside. Grant pressed the button for the 4 th floor, out of ten. It didn't take them long to reach the 4th floor and Apartment 4C. 

The inside was about what she'd expected, upon seeing the outside of the apartment complex. There was a small but not cramped living room with a TV and a couch, bookshelves lining most of the other walls. A half-wall/countertop combination, as well as an empty doorway led into a kitchen/dining room and, perhaps unsurprisingly, she saw a lot of drawings magnet-ed to the fridge. Presumably Rachel's. 

She saw a doorway on the other end and Kara guessed they led to bedrooms for him and Rachel, as well as a bathroom. Rachel bounded over to the TV once they were inside and Grant locked the door. 

“Rainbow Kingdom! Rainbow Kingdom!” She sat down on the couch and brandished the remote at Grant, as if it was a wand. He walked over to her and turned the TV on, changing the channel a few times, to some kind of cartoon show. 

“That's the show on before Rainbow Kingdom, right?” Grant asked, and Rachel nodded happily, ready to watch her show. Grant set the remote down and turned back to her. When he spoke, his voice was low. “I just need to check the security camera feeds, make sure we didn't have any unexpected guests.” 

Kara looked around and up, and indeed there were security cameras – two in the living room alone. _A little overkill, don't you think? I get a healthy amount of paranoia, but this does seem a little excessive._ But then... she was hardly going to argue the point with Grant. She didn't have a kid – but her mother would sometimes go on about how when she'd been younger, 'I worried myself gray about you sometimes!'. She supposed that parental impulse, combined with Grant's personality and the paranoia that being a S.H.I.E.L.D. specialist inculcated in you... 

_I shouldn't be surprised._

“Has your paranoia ever paid off?” Kara asked just as quietly, following him into what turned out to be his bedroom. The bed was sized for one person, and the room was, like every other room in the apartment, small but not cramped. There was a desk with a three computer monitors, each with its own keyboard and mouse, against one wall. Grant leaned down and fiddled with one of the computers, bringing up security camera feeds. He played them quickly, bringing the rest up on the other two monitors. 

“Nope,” Grant replied. “Until you and Skye showed up in the park, neither S.H.I.E.L.D. nor Hydra found me. No one else either.” 

“You really think Hydra would come after you? Hell, they're a few incarnations and four years past your last involvement” Then again, she'd expected that at this point, Coulson and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't care about him either. But Hydra didn't have a 'mission of justice', so they'd be even less likely. “They have to know you're not going to work for them.” 

“That's never really stopped them before.” Grant pointed out softly. Kara closed her eyes and nodded. _Compliance will be rewarded, after all._ “I'm still very good at what I do.” 

“The current version of Hydra hasn't really shown much interest in brainwashing. Far as we know anyway. Of course,” she added, “apart from the fact that they're Hydra and they have more powered people working for them than you can shake a stick at, we don't really know much of _anything_ about Hydra 4.0.” 

Grant turned back to her, raising an eyebrow, his expression vaguely amused. “Hydra 4.0?” 

“It's the name that a lot of us have taken to calling the current Hydra. It's different than the one that was around after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell and it's also different than the one after that. 3.0 spent most of its time in more... traditional criminal ventures. Arms dealing, smuggling. Advanced weapons R &D. Nothing too esoteric though. This one – they like powered people. A lot.” If Kara hadn't been as good as she was, and hadn’t known Grant as well as she did, she might not have noticed the brief... flash of... concern that passed across Grant's eyes at the mention of powered people. She filed it away. Grant had obviously been trying to hide the reaction, and she wasn't going to press the issue. He was allowed to have his own thoughts. 

“There's so much the news – even the 'new media' reporters who focus on stories about S.H.I.E.L.D.,Hydra and powered people – doesn't have on Hydra. I try to keep up with what's going on, but I'm sure there are all kinds of things missing. Fill me in?” Grant pulled out the desk chair, turning it around and sitting down. Kara took the gesture and sat down on his bed. “You know the important things about my life the last four years, but I don't really know what you've done.” 

“I know about you finding Rachel, coming here and being a self-defense instructor. Is that really _all_ that's happened in the last four years?” Of course, that might well have been all. If he wanted to stay under the radar... 

“Well, not _everything_.” Grant admitted. “I could tell you about Rachel's first word, her first steps... but my life has pretty much just been her for the last four years. I'm not sure you want to hear every intimate detail of her life.” 

_Well. No._ “But she's a part of your life. She matters to you. I'm up for hearing some of that. Her first word, huh?” Kara smirked as she went on: “let me guess. Was it 'Daddy'?” 

“No, actually. Her first word was 'ball'. She had this big rubber ball she played with, but she'd slobbered all over it, so I'd taken it to clean it. She kept saying 'ball' until I'd washed it and given it back to her.” Grant had a soft smile on his face, a slightly distant look in his eyes. “Her second word was 'no', her third word was 'Dada'.” His smiled widened a bit. “She had me wrapped around her little finger for a month after that, any time she said 'Dada'.”   
  


Kara smiled a little despite herself, as much at Grant's obvious happiness as 

“I had to get a lot of practice resisting her pouting. But she's gotten better at it too. Victor Gorsh, the father of one of Rachel's friends, called it a 'parental arms race', which works as an explanation.” He shrugged, “I make sure she knows limits beforehand. She doesn't usually pout too much, because she usually knows what she should have and limits herself well.” He gestured back to the living room. “You should see all the parenting books I bought when I first... first decided to keep her. I didn't want to...” Grant shook his head and trailed off. 

“You wanted to avoid making the same mistakes as your parents,” Kara said softly. 

Grant shook his head, “You say that like there was any mistake they _didn't_ make. Or that there was anything they did right. Just... doing the opposite of them was a good start.” He shook his head and Kara understood he didn't want to continue any discussion of his family. 

“So... just Rachel then? No one else?” She kept her tone light. She didn't want to just come out and ask him if he still loved Skye. Maybe she should, but... 

Well, leaving aside the abrupt insertion, she wanted to work her way to the issue because she didn't want to hear the answer if it was 'yes'. 

Well, that wasn't entirely true. She wanted to know for sure. And if it was 'yes'... well, she had to admit it would be upsetting. She didn't want him to still be in love with Skye. Both because... well, loving Skye was clearly going to go nowhere for him, and because she wanted him to be emotionally free, able to see if they could have a relationship. She didn't love him _anymore_ , but she suspected it could probably happen again. In many ways, Grant was... well, in many ways, he was perfect relationship material. Perhaps not in others thought. But still. She still had some feelings for him. 

“Have I had any relationships in the last four years?” Grant asked. Kara nodded slowly, feeling a little ridiculous for asking. “Not really. I mean... I've been approached every now and then. Apparently being a single father is attractive to a lot of women.” _I've heard the same thing before._ It was apparently a thing. It didn't work that way for her but it didn't seem to turn her off from Grant either. “But... I haven't had any dates or anything. I can't leave Rachel alone and I can't trust a baby-sitter with her. I can't trust anyone with her for any length of time. A few hours visiting her friends are about the most I'd trust, and I make sure I stay in the building when she does that.” _Okay, really Grant._ She got it. She really did. _But how are you going to handle her going to school? She's getting close to kindergarten age, right? When she gets older, how are you going to handle_ _**her**_ _going on dates?_

“About the only person I would trust to be able to leave her alone with,” he added, “for any reason, would be you. And...” He let his voice trail off a moment, into silence. 

Kara appreciated the implicit gesture in his words – if he was really that protective of his daughter, then... 

Well, his trust mattered. 

“Is that the only reason you haven't?” she asked, trying to keep her voice light. 

“What are you asking?” Grant looked away. 

“Is part of the reason because they're not who you want?” Kara asked. “Because you still have feelings for someone else. Because-” Kara bit her lip, then _Fuck it._ “Are you still in love with Skye?” 

She regretted it immediately when she saw Grant flinch – well, not so much flinch as sit back a little and his expression go blank. 

“Grant – you owe me an answer to that question. I- I'm not 'in love' with you, the way I was four years ago.” _If I really was in love and didn't just_ _think I was._ “But I want to know if there's even a chance for anything between us. If you still love Skye... well, I won't say it's fine, because – after everything she's done to you, I don't understand how you still would be able to – but I'm still your friend. I'm not going to be upset with you. I just... I just want to know. Do you still love her?” 

Grant looked away from her a moment, then looked back to her. After a silence that stretched for what had to be a few minutes, Kara started beating herself up for asking him like that. _I should have waited longer..._

“She's the only woman I've ever loved.” Grant answered, his voice soft. 


	7. Apparently You're Both Stupid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** I don't own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 
> 
> **Notes:** I am moving quite a long span of time forward in the flashbacks for a few reasons – one, while some of the other stuff that happens in between the Bobbi-Kara confrontation is interesting and part of the backstory that builds up to the Kara of 2019, they're not vitally important to the story I want to tell here. Secondly, this scene fits perfectly with where the story is in the present, so it makes perfect sense to tie them in together. I may go back and detail some of the events of the intervening ten or so months, such as a scene or two from Kara's fling with Lance Hunter, but at the moment, we're jumping ahead. Pay attention to the dates, or things might get confusing. ^^ 
> 
> **Note 2:** As with the Bobbi-Kara scene, I'm breaking the flashback here into two parts in two chapters, though in this case it's for thematic reasons.   
>  Thanks to Riley Holden/Colormeblue and LisaMichelle25 for their assistance as beta-readers. 

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkei 

Chapter 7: Apparently You're Both Stupid 

**Kara's Room, The Playground**

**March 20 th, 2016**

_Now that things with Lance are over, I should probably look into a transfer._ It wasn't as if there was much else keeping her here in the Playground in particular. She'd been operating out of S.H.I.I.E.L.D.'s Central American headquarters, in Belize, for about half a year before she'd started her little fling with Lance – and gotten to watch the veiled looks of jealousy, anger and occasional pain from Morse as a result – and Kara wouldn't mind heading back down there. For one, those damned fish pills were less common than they were in the U.S. and Canada. Sure, people there took them, but fewer people did overall. So even less chance of being sent after the 'NuHumans'. 

  
No, in Central America the main mission was dealing with Hydra 3.0.'s links to the drug trade and other international criminal activity. And occasionally other matters – she hadn't been sent after any 0-8-4s, even though one had turned up in Guatemala a few months back. 

Kara had no problem with being _not_ selected for the 0-8-4 mission, to be honest. 0-8-4s were a mess and a half, and she didn't want to get anywhere near the damn things. Infiltrating Hydra and its allies or potential allies with the use of the mask... that suited her and her talents just fine, thank you very much. Alien tech, crazy weird super-science and all that other stuff? A little bit too dangerous and unpredictable for her tastes. 'NuHumans' were as well. She had no problems with them, but she didn't want to have to go up against someone who, for example, had their own personal taser built into their hand, like Skye's boyfriend, the Sparkplug himself. 

Or that crazy purist guy who looked like a monster from a horror movie. What was his name? Lash? 

_I think so. Whatever the hell his name is, I'd rather fight humans. Easier to kill, easier to beat. Easier to subdue and capture._

And really, normal humans made sense. Crazy alien powers? Yeah, not so much. 

Kara was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of knocking on her door. Blinking, Kara lowered her book and checked the time on her phone. It was nearly midnight. Who the _hell_ would be knocking on her door at this hour? If there was a mission or something, it wouldn't be a polite knock on the door. 

_I suppose it could be Lance._ They'd parted ways on their little fling, but she still counted him as a friend, and she was fairly confident the reverse was true for him. Kara stood and walked to the door opening it. 

Of all the people it could have been, she didn't expect it to be Skye. The Hacker/Inhuman was standing there, a bottle of Vodka in one hand and two glasses in the other. The bottle was maybe a quarter empty, and from the look of Skye, Kara had a pretty good bet where the contents had gone. 

“Skye.” Kara didn't bother to hide her contempt. “What the hell do you want?” 

Skye took a breath before answering. “Look, I know you don't like me. I know it's late. And in the morning, I'm probably going to regret coming here, but you're the only one on this base I can talk to about this.” She held up the bottle. “Give me five minutes and if you still want me out of the room, I'll leave. I'll even let you keep the bottle.” 

Kara stepped aside. “Not a big enough fan of vodka for that to be a good thing. Five minutes.” Kara couldn't help but be curious. During the rare times they were on the base at the same time, Skye tended to avoid her as much as she avoided Skye. _So what is it that she wants to talk about with me?_ Why would she be the only one Skye could talk to about whatever it was?   
  
The only commonality Kara could see between them that Skye might not be able to bring up with anyone else was Grant. _I don't need to hear her talking shit about Grant again._

Skye walked in and sat in the chair opposite the bed. She poured vodka into each glass and handed one to Kara, who took it, but didn't drink. Skye, on the other hand, downed hers in almost an instant. 

“I broke up with Lincoln this afternoon.” Skye said slowly. _Okay. And this is my affair why?_ Kara had known, in passing, that Skye was dating the electrically-charged Inhuman, but she'd only seen him once or twice, and had no real opinion about the guy at all. “The reason I gave him – the reason everyone else is going to know, I suppose, is the Index, and S.H.I.E.L.D... Lincoln's priority is our people. Mine is S.H.I.E.L.D. We're never going to completely agree. But...” Skye rolled her eyes a little. “That's not... that's not why I just let things peter out.” She poured herself another glass and drank half of it. 

_Slow down Skye, or there won't be any bottle left by the time your five minutes are up_ . 

“The problem with Lincoln wasn't that we disagreed about Inhumans, or the Index. It was a small difference. The problem is that he isn't Ward.” 

Whatever Kara had expected Skye to say, that wasn't it. 

“What are you saying?” Kara took a small sip from her own glass. She didn't hate Vodka, but it wasn't her preferred alcohol. But damn – if Skye was saying what Kara thought she was. _I need a freaking drink_. 

“I'm saying -” Skye let out a long sigh that ended with a small hiccup. She frowned a moment and lowered her glass. “When you were in the Vault – you told me that Ward was so in love with me that you never had a chance. That that's why you hated me.” 

“I remember. And it was a big part of it. Still kind of is, I have to admit.” Kara replied. It was... stupid, maybe, to hold on to her hate for Skye on that front. But she couldn't let it go. Not completely. Skye's other offenses were worse in Kara's mind but that detail didn't help things much. 

“Well, the problem with Lincoln wasn't Lincoln. I mean... he's a great guy.” She managed a fake smile, “He's cute, he can be pretty funny, he's nice, he's caring, he's got a lot to recommend him... but -” She swallowed. “The deep dark secret is: I'm still too in love with Ward for Lincoln to really have had a chance.” 

Kara grimaced. She got why Skye would come to her. Who else could she raise the topic around? FitzSimmons? Yeah, not so much. Couldn't bring it up around May or Coulson or anyone else. No one on this base had any positive words or feelings for Grant but her. But Kara didn't want to hear this. She didn't want to know that Skye was in love with Grant. _I can only be glad that Grant doesn't know this at all._ As far as she was concerned, Skye didn't deserve Grant. And given her behavior toward him... 

“You love him? If that's how you feel, Skye, you've had a funny way of showing it.” Kara took another sip from her glass, then looked at it and emptied it. Skye handed her the bottle without comment. There was a distant look on her face. 

“You know, I said almost the exact same thing to him once, back when he first told me that he had feelings for me, when we first talked about... about an us.” Skye's voice was soft as Kara poured herself another glass. “There was a brief moment there, when I thought that everything would work out. That even if S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen, the Team would be fine. That the little family I'd found would come out the other end safe and sound. Sure, everything had gone to hell around us,” Skye emptied her own glass. “But... the guy I was in love with felt the same way and...” She let herself trail off for a moment. “And then I found Eric Koenig's body, and then...It felt like something had reached inside me and just... tore me apart. But the problem was... I couldn't just turn off how I felt about him. I couldn't accept that _everything_ had been a lie.” 

“It wasn't.” Kara told her. “That's not how deep cover works.” Never once had Kara stopped to think about it from Skye's perspective. She didn't really want to. She wanted to hate Skye – still did, this wasn't going to change that, Kara suspected – and it was easier to do that when you just looked at it from one perspective, even if Grant had refused to hate her from that perspective. “Lying about everything – it's impossible. You've got to keep as close to yourself as you can.” 

“Maybe.” Skye allowed. “But that didn't – doesn't – change the fact that Ward is a liar. A murderer. A traitor. That however I feel about him, I can't trust him. That he tried to kill my best friends, and knew Garrett was the guy who had me shot and didn't do anything about it. However I feel about him... it doesn't matter. It doesn't change the fact that he's a monster.” Kara was about to respond instinctively – liar, murderer and traitor Grant technically was, yes, even if it was a lot more complicated than that. But- he wasn't a monster, and she wasn't going to let Skye say that without response. 

“I know you think Ward isn't a monster.” Skye interrupted. “I don't understand how – but after what he did, what he's done, there's nothing else to see, from where I sit. But it doesn't change the fact that I love him. That I wish things could be different. That I hate myself every day, for not hating him enough.” Skye poured herself another drink. “God, I shouldn't have drunk the beer I did before coming here. I shouldn't have even come here. I shouldn't be telling you this.” 

“But you are.” Kara pointed out harshly. “You hate yourself for loving him. I hate you because of what you did to him. But like you said, I'm the only person you can talk to.” She took a sip from her glass and grimaced again. This wasn't even especially _good_ vodka. But then, the quality of the alcohol wasn't really the point. “Grant is... a hard guy to get over.” She said after pausing for a long moment. _Understatement of the century_. “You say you don't trust him, but I'd trust him with my life.” Kara wondered why she was talking to Skye at all. Skye was being so verbose because she was drunk. Or had been drinking. And probably because she'd needed someone to talk to about this for a long time. 

_Then again, that's probably why I'm talking with her at all on this._ The subject of Grant just wasn't one she could talk about in S.H.I.E.L.D. Not with anyone. 

“And I don't understand that.” Skye replied. “But that's not really the point. What I did to Grant... compared to what he did...” She looked down. “Doesn't make what I said to him in the Vault right. When I told him he should have run faster. I was wrong. I shouldn't have. I made a mistake. God, no, that makes it sound like I knocked a glass over. I... I was so _angry_ at him. For what he did. Because I blamed him for the fact that I still loved him him and hated myself for it... especially then, with Fitz still... barely there, and... I just... I didn't want to see him. I didn't want to think about him. I wanted him to -” 

Skye let out a long breath. “I wanted him to not want to see me again. I just... I was so _angry_ at him and at myself and... I just lashed out at him. I'm not really a fan of the person I've become since S.H.I.E.L.D fell, you know... but who I was then, those early months, so... bitter and angry... I was trying to be like May. I'm not May. I'm me.” She shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment. “I mean, it's not like I'm not still angry at Ward, for everything he did. I still hate myself just a little for still being in love with him. But... it is what it is.” She emptied her glass again. Her words were getting a slight slur to them – nothing major, but enough. “What we could have had... Ward and I... it just loomed over everything with Lincoln. Ward's gone and ruined me, apparently. But even if... even if Ward had somehow stuck around, kept working with Coulson on stuff... there's nothing that could happen.” 

“I can't trust him, can't... after everything he's done. There's no way... but apparently there's no way I can be really happy with anyone else.” Skye rubbed at one eye for a moment. 

**Daniel Martel's Apartment, Indianapolis, Indiana**

**May 7th, 2019**

_She's the only woman I've ever loved_ . 

Kara would have been telling the world's biggest lie if she denied that answer made her gut wrench. However much she'd worried it was the case, however much she'd been prepared to hear it from him... to finally hear it. She took a step back, felt one hand curl into a fist. She felt her body shake a little, in anger or just... upset, she didn't know. 

Kara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She heard Grant's voice a moment later.   
  
“Kara – I-” He cut himself off. “Kara. I'm sorry.” 

_Sorry for what? Being in love with Skye, even though she shot you in the back four times? Even though she thinks you're a monster? Sorry for telling me the truth after I demanded it from you?_

“No.” Kara held up her other hand and brought it up to rest on her temple. “I told you to tell me the truth. I wanted to know. And now you've told me. It's not like I wasn't afraid this was the case. I've had four years to think about everything.” _And three years to know that Skye still loves you._

Part of her really didn't want to tell Grant that fact. She was still firmly of the opinion that Skye didn't deserve Grant. That any relationship between them would be a mistake. She'd been of that opinion since that March 20 th three years ago. Not just because she'd have preferred Grant have a relationship with her, but... everything else too. 

But at the same time... knowing what she did now... 

She couldn't keep something like that from Grant. She would have to tell him, sooner or later. They were friends, whatever else, and... 

But still... 

_How the hell can she be the only woman he's ever loved? How can he still love her after what she did to him?_

“I'm sorry, Grant,” Kara said, realizing she'd been silent for far too long. “But -” Kara realized the door to his bedroom was still open and went over to close it. Still standing by it, she started again. “I'm sorry, but what the _fuck_? In what universe does that even begin to make sense? Why the hell do you still love her? She told you that you should have tried harder to kill yourself, was just fucking _eager_ to see you handed over to your brother, and shot you in the back four times when you were trying to help her!” Kara was yelling, though not too loudly. Still, the angry venom in her words should have been enough to peel the wallpaper. 

Grant dragged a hand across his face, then spoke, his hands moving away from his head as if he was pulling his thoughts out with his words. “You think I _like_ this? You think I _like_ loving a woman who hates me? Who could never love me back? You think I _like_ being so in love with Skye that I can't even be a little happy with anyone else? I know there's no future between me and Skye. I know that nothing can happen between us.” 

_Well, yes, there's no future between you two, but she doesn't hate you. Not exactly. And she does actually love you._

“I know all that, and sometimes I wish to God that I didn't love her so much, but I do. All I need to do -” He paused, looking past her a little. When he spoke again, his voice was softer. “All I need to do is just... just think about her smile. The way just being around her could just make everything... brighter. The way... the way she would look at me sometimes. I can't tell you why I love her. I could stand here and list all the positive traits about her, all the things about her I love, but... at the end of the day...” 

Grant swallowed. “At the end of the day, I love her. There's nothing about that that I can change. She's the only woman I've ever loved. I tried to move on from her, to forget her. To let go of my feelings. I meant what I said to you back in that hotel room. She made it pretty clear that she doesn't feel anything but hate for me. I guess I am insane though. I tried to move on – but just... just seeing her again, when we were working with Coulson...” 

He shook his head. “It just brought it all back. I can't move on. I love her, and that isn't going to change.” 

Kara crossed her arms in front of her, unable to resist glaring at Grant. The conversation she'd had with Skye so long ago was replaying in her mind. But she was also seething. _I still don't get it. What the hell is it about her?_ He'd tried, but he was right, love wasn't something you could explain. Or at least that's what everyone said. 

Skye didn't deserve him. And she wasn't any good for him. But he loved her anyway. It made no earthly sense. The whole thing was crazy, from top to bottom. 

“I still don't understand it.” Kara told him, managing to force herself to speak more levelly. 

“You don't need to pretend you're not angry at me, Kara.” Grant said softly. 

“I'm not angry at you, Grant.” Kara disagreed. “I asked you to tell me the truth. I demanded it. And... like I said, it isn't like I didn't consider this possibility. I don't understand it. I don't understand why you love a woman you think hates you. I don't think anything could or should happen between you. You should have given up on her a long time ago. You deserve to be happy with someone, even if that person isn't me.” 

“Kara-” Granted started, but she shook her head and cut him off. 

“Yes, I had feelings for you four years ago. Pretty strong ones. And maybe you were genuine in trying to return them. But it's been four years. I was in a very different place then. I didn't come here expecting anything. We're still friends. I wanted to see if maybe we could be more, but I was afraid it wasn't likely. I-” Kara swallowed. “I'll admit that it's hard to hear that you still love her. That she's the only woman you've ever loved.” She swallowed and lowered her hands, slipping them into her pockets. “I'm going to need a little bit of time not around you to deal with it all. But that's not the real issue. The issue is that you've damned yourself to being alone because you love Skye so much. And that – I don't like that. Even if somehow you and Skye could date, there's no way that could end in anything but tears or one of you killing each other.” 

Grant chuckled humorlessly. “There's no way anything could start without her shooting me again well beforehand.” 

_Not exactly._

“No.” She took a breath. “You're an idiot, Grant, you know that, right? You're in love with a woman you can't ever have, and you've had five years to let go.” _And Skye has had five years to move on from you, and she hasn't had a successful relationship in that time either._ Unlike Grant, Skye had tried to date, from what Kara had picked up – even in S.H.I.E.L.D. there was gossip – but none of them had worked out. None of them had lasted the nearly eight months that her thing with Lincoln had either. Skye was a profoundly unhappy woman when it came to her relationships. Kara suspected the woman hated Grant for that, for 'ruining' her for other men. 

_Not that I understand that either. If you can't trust him, how can you love him?_ For Kara, she'd trusted Grant implicitly. It was why she'd been able to fall in love with him or whatever exactly it had been with him four years ago. If she hadn't trusted him so completely, she wouldn't have been able to love him. 

And yet, the reverse was apparently true for Skye. She didn't know if Grant trusted Skye. From the sound of it though... no, he didn't. She couldn't help but feel a slightly smug sense of... _**take that**_ for the hacker. Love or not, neither of them really thought anything could happen. 

Which... on the one hand, she liked. 

But on the other hand... 

_Grant deserves to be happy. If I tell him, it's going to give him hope. Which... well, he could use, on the subject of Skye._

But at the same time... hope was really the last thing Grant needed. Nothing could happen. From what Skye had said and done just earlier today, it was pretty damn clear that she still wasn't past what he'd done. A small part of Kara could understand that, as much as she hated to give Skye even an inch. So telling Grant that Skye loved him... 

It would only give him false hope. Because love alone didn't conquer all, apparently. So much for what the writers of trashy Romance novels thought. 

_If love conquered all, if the world worked like what those books say, then I would have been able to sway him with my own feelings then. Our four years of absence would have only made the heart grow fonder..._

Well, that wasn't how it had worked, apparently.   
  
“I don't – I don't understand why neither of you can let this go.” Kara hadn't meant to say it like that, and she saw the way Grant's eyes narrowed, head tilted a little. _Well, damn_. “I don't understand why you both can't just have normal, healthy relationships with anyone – _anyone –_ else. But apparently you're both stupid and can't be happy with other people.” Kara bit the bullet and told him. “And not that she deserves you in any way but, for what it's worth, she still loves you. Never stopped.” Kara shook her head, let out an angry cry/growl, clenching her hands into fists. She left Grant's room a moment later. She needed to be away from him for a little bit. 

_Why the hell does this have to be the case?_

Why did Grant have to love Skye and Skye have to love Grant? If these two people were anyone else in the world, she'd have told them both to suck it up and get on with it.   
  
But with these two people? 

  
Not really an option. Or desirable. 


	8. The Next Step

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** I don't own AoS. 
> 
> **Note 1:** I reference a line from the Webseries 'Red Versus Blue' here in this fic. It just sort of happened. I don't own RvB – but you should all go watch it, give it a try. The first five 'Seasons' can be a little rough for some people (they're more about the comedy than the story, especially at the beginning), so if you can't get into them, I'd really suggest picking up with the Miniseries 'Recovery 1' (its four episodes, each about 4 minutes long, give or take) and then trying Season 6, the Reconstruction, because it really is a show worth watching, and Recovery One/Season 6 introduces new characters and story arcs and in such a way that you don't need to know the intimate details of the first five seasons (most of the pertinent details get filled in over the course of season 6 as needed, thanks to the new characters). Really, its a great show – its got surprisingly richly realized characters for a machinima webshow, it's got a couple of very nicely done redemption arcs and very deep and moving storylines as well as enough (but, in the later seasons, not _too_ much) light-hearted and comedic elements to keep things from going too deep. Anyway, enough of me gushing about RvB. On with the fic. :p 
> 
> **Note 2:** It is official! Skye will show up again in chapter 9! 
> 
> Thanks to Riley Holden/Colormeblue and LisaMichelle25 for their assistance as beta-readers 

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 8: The Next Step 

**Kara's Room, The Playground**

**March 20 th, 2016**

“If you can't trust Grant, you can't be in a relationship with him.” Kara pointed out, stating the obvious. “I'm not sure what you want me to say, Skye. You know full well that I'm not your biggest fan. I'll be honest, I don't think Grant should feel anything for you, but he still did when he left.” 

Skye looked away from her. “Yeah. You said something to that effect, when you were in Vault D. If it helps any, I... I think I'd be more than happy for him to have been able to move on from me.” She took a breath. “I mean... I'll admit, there's a part of me that would be hurt if he had, the part of me that still loves him, but – if he'd moved on... maybe I could as well.” 

“Well,” Kara topped her glass off. She was drinking more than she usually did, but this conversation – in some ways, she wanted to end it right now, but in other ways - 

Just as Skye had no one else on this base to talk about her feelings for Grant Ward, Kara had no one to talk about him with either. As far as the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. was concerned, Grant was evil. Grant was the enemy. There was still an order out for him to be captured or killed – if absolutely necessary – if he was found in the field. S.H.I.E.L.D. had a hell of a lot more important things to be doing right now, so no real effort had been made to find him, thank God, but as far as the agency was concerned... 

_Grant's still someone they hate._ Someone to get rid of, one way or the other. 

  
But this was Kara's chance to talk about Grant with someone who had known him. She doubted that she'd ever have any conversation like this again with Skye. It was a one time thing, brought on by drinking and a breakup. Plus, Kara still didn't plan on being around Skye that much for there to be another opportunity for this sort of thing. 

“I don't know what I felt for Grant, to be honest. Sometimes I think I loved him, sometimes I think I just thought I loved him. I had feelings for him, strong ones. But... there was a lot that was happening. I certainly _wanted_ to try for something with him, to have a relationship.” _And I wanted to give him what he wanted, as well_. If there was one thing that Kara was never going to mention to Skye, it was the moment when she'd used the mask to look like the former hacker turned Inhuman and tried to seduce Grant. 

At the time she'd thought she owed Grant something – that this was all she could give him. That being with a Skye substitute was what he wanted. 

In hindsight... _god, I'm so glad Grant stopped me from doing that._ If Grant had let her go through with it... what would that have done to her? Given her own state of mind then... 

_I would have tried to look like Skye all the time. Tried to act like her, all the time. To be here, for Grant._ And... 

That would have been... 

“But I trusted Grant with my life. With everything, completely.” 

Skye shook her head. “I don't understand that. How – I mean... he didn't betray you or anything, I get that... but – god, did he just not tell you what he'd done?” 

“Because your perspective on him is the only one, Skye? No, he didn't betray me. Didn't go after my friends – I didn't have any friends left alive to go after. But – Skye, you have no idea... about Grant. About why he did what he did. And about what Grant was like for me. My experience with him – wasn't anything like yours.” One of the things she'd been pretty thankful for, as she'd integrated into the agency, was that no one really wanted to press her about Grant. Coulson had asked her a few questions, early on, but after he'd realized he wouldn't get anywhere with her, he didn't press the issue at all. She just hadn't had a chance to talk about Grant with anyone here. She did share a lot about Grant with her mother, though. She _was_ someone she could talk to, but her mother wasn't a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and there were just some things she couldn't understand. 

“You've said that. I just – what was Ward like for you, then?” Skye asked softly. She looked down at her glass and gave small chuckle. “God, I must've drunk more than I thought, if I'm asking you that.” She set her glass aside, chuckling again, then frowned. “Sorry – you – you don't have to answer that if you don't want to.” 

Kara shrugged, “I'll answer it.” She bit her lip a moment, then spoke, “You explained your perspective on things. Why you had – have – all the issues with him that you do. What you felt, when you found out...” Kara exhaled slowly. “I still don't remember the actual details of my life before coming out of Whitehalls's brainwashing in Puerto Rico. My mother's told me all kinds of stories from my childhood. I've read my S.H.I.E.L.D. file, my mission reports... but I don't remember _any_ of it. In so many ways... my life really began in that mansion in San Juan. I have... a few flashes from when I was under Whitehall's control, but that's it. When Whitehall died... I was suddenly free. But I had nothing. I knew nothing. I _was_ nothing. I didn't even know what my own face looked like – all I knew was that the face I had wasn't mine. I found Grant lying there, after you shot him-” she hadn't even said it that time to get at Skye, but Kara did take some satisfaction at the way the other woman flinched a little at the mention of shooting Grant. 

“He helped me – keeping him alive gave me a role, a purpose, long enough for him to be able to help me. Help me find out who I was. Found someone to fix the mask fused to my face... helped me find out what my own face looked like again.” Without Grant, she never would have been able to find Bakshi, get him out of that prison, and from him find out her mother's name. Without Grant she never would have been able to then find out what she looked like. No one else had been there to help her. S.H.I.E.L.D. had left her behind. Hydra had abandoned her, thank god. Grant was the only person to help her.   
  
And he had been more than just the only option. He'd – he'd been a good man. There were so many things he could have done to her that at the time and she'd have just let him. He didn't. Grant had valued her, as a person. He'd never pressured or pushed her into anything - not on going after Bakshi, not on going after that blonde bitch who'd sold her out. 

“I can't imagine what that would have been like.” Skye admitted. “Not knowing your name, your face – nothing. I mean... I never knew my birth name, for years, but at least I had one, much as I hated it. And then I chose Skye. But not _having_ a name. Not knowing what you look like... - hell, not being able to have your own face be your own face because you can't take the mask off.” She shook her head and looked at Kara directly. “How can you not hate May for doing that to you? I mean... I like May, but she- she's the one who fused that mask to you, who...” She let herself trail off, clearly unsure if continuing was the best idea. 

“May was in a fight for her life. I don't remember what actually happened, but Hydra would have ordered me to kill her. When the choice is death, all alternatives are preferable. I don't hold it against her – she did what she had to. That's May. She's a professional.” 

Skye said nothing for a moment, then giggled a little before managing to stop herself. “No – sorry.” She said after she got herself under control. “I really have had too much to drink, it's just – what you said reminded me of something I watched years ago, a web show. 'It is an undeniable and may I say _fundamental_ quality of man that when faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable.” She said it in a somewhat exaggerated Texan accent, which Kara could only assume was because of the accent of the character who had said that line originally. 

“It's true.” Kara said. “Some people may not cross lines, but as a whole, when push comes to shove, people like to stay alive.” She let out another sigh. “Grant told me everything about what he did, to your friends. But there's a hell of a lot more to the story. Garrett was dying. And Grant was trying to save him. I'm sure you know that part, right?” 

“Trying to save the life of a bastard like Garrett doesn't really count for much, Kara.” Skye replied pointedly. 

“No. But trying to save the life of the first person in your life to really give a damn about you does.” Kara replied. “Which is exactly what Grant was doing. Spend fifteen years with a family like Grant's, and then five with a psychopath like Garrett as your only human contact and see if that doesn't fuck you up, screw with your perceptions and priorities.” 

**Daniel Martel's Apartment, Indianapolis, Indiana**

**May 7 th, 2019**

Kara made her way into Grant's kitchen. She could hear the little kidsy show Rachel was watching in the background. Thankfully the show about magical unicorns with rainbow magic powers was engrossing enough that the little girl didn't bother her.   
  
Right now Kara just needed some time to cool off. 

She wasn't happy with Grant. And she wasn't happy in general. But it wasn't his fault. Love just was, sometimes. Supposedly. 

She _hadn't_ come here with expectations. But still- 

_Why the hell is he still in love with Skye? Why the hell is he in love with someone that he thinks – well, thought – hates him._ Now he knew that she was still in love with him too. 

The problem was – well, one of the many, many problems – was that... there was no way this could end in anything but tears. In anything but heartbreak for Grant. Even if something could happen between them – if Skye somehow got past the trust issues and the anger she was still carrying around, four years later, there was no way a relationship could work. Skye would never pick Grant over her team, her friends, over Coulson. And her friends were never going to accept Grant – Coulson never would. Coulson loved her like a daughter and all that shit. He'd go all 'Shotgun dad' on him if anything happened between them. 

Grant was an idiot here. Like she'd told him, he was stupid, for being in love with someone so much, someone he couldn't have. And Skye was stupid for loving someone she was sure she couldn't trust. 

Kara did her best to force all that to the side. It wasn't easy and even as she tried to think about other things, it kept intruding into her mind. Lacking a better option, she went back into the living room and saw that the little girl's show was done, the credits playing on one side as the unicorns sang some song about friendly friendship or whatever. The usual kidsy TV show spiel. 

“Auntie Kara!” Rachel said, bounding off the couch to run over to her. “I wanna show you my room!” She was bouncing on her feet, an apparently boundless ball of energy. 

“Auntie Kara?” Was that what Grant had called her to his daughter? 

“Yeah! My friend Tina – her parents have a friend. She isn't really her aunt, but Tina calls her Auntie Mary anyway. You're Daddy's friend, so that means you're _my_ Auntie!” From the look on her face, Rachel was quite pleased with her logic, thinking it impeccable. “Come on!” She gestured for Kara to follow her. “I wanna show you my room!” 

“Why?” Kara had _no_ earthly idea what the little girl was up to. _Was this a normal thing for kids?_

“I wanna show you my fish! And my ponies!” She turned around and almost skipped her way down the hall to the doorway past Grant's bedroom. 

_Well, I don't have anything else to do, and she seems like she has enough energy to keep my mind busy for a while._

**Daniel Martel's Apartment, Indianapolis, Indiana**

**May 7 th, 2019**

How right Kara had been. Being introduced to Rachel's pet goldfish 'Benny' had been just the start. Then Rachel had introduced Kara to all her stuffed ponies and unicorns. Each one had names and personalities and... 

It wasn't even that Kara hadn't kind of enjoyed Rachel's enthusiasm. There was something infectious about the little girl's happiness, and it was nice to be around someone who was completely innocent. Even around her fellow Agents, the ones she liked and got along with more or less, that wasn't the case. And... in the back of her mind, some small part worried if she could really trust them.   
  
A hazard of being handed to Hydra on a silver platter by someone who was supposed to be on your side. 

With Rachel, there were no angles, no problems. It was... well, yes, it was refreshing. 

_But damn_ could that girl talk quickly. Finally, she'd settled down and decided she wanted to do stuff with her crayons and coloring books. Excusing herself, Kara had gone back into the living room. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Grant cooking something on the stove. He turned at the sound of her in the living room, a small smile on his face. 

  
“Did Rachel introduce you to all her ponies and unicorns?” 

Kara walked over towards the kitchen, leaning on the wall-counter between it and the living room. “Yep. Told me all their histories and relations and everything.” 

Grant chuckled. “She's always making up stories with them and then having them 'act out' the stories for me.” Kara watched him take the pot of what looked like macaroni off the stove and drain it over the sink. “Rachel always insists on macaroni and cheese on tuesdays. Don't worry, I have real food in the oven – unless you'd rather not – I mean, after...” He started, putting the Kraft pasta back into its pot and back on the stove. 

Kara shook her head, interrupting. “I just needed a little time to process everything, Grant. To deal with how freaking _stupid_ you are about this. I'm not upset with you and I'm not mad at you. You're still my friend.” 

Grant nodded slowly. “That's... that's good to know. Thank you.” He set to work adding the cheese powder, milk and butter to the noodles. “For what it's worth, Kara, I'm sorry.”   
  
“This isn't really an 'apology' sort of situation. We don't need to keep talking about this.” _Please let's not._ She didn't want to think about it again. Both the infuriating and confusing parts of it. 

Grant nodded. “Alright.” He looked past her into the living room. Once he saw that it was empty – that Rachel wasn't listening in, he lowered his voice: “I...if Coulson knows I live in Indianapolis... sooner or later... how bad does he want me?” 

“I don't know.” Kara admitted, also speaking softly. “He said he had questions only you had the answers to.” 

“What could I know that would be pertinent now? I'm generations behind on what Hydra is up to. Anything I know has to be years obsolete.” Grant stirred the pasta as he spoke. 

Kara shook her head. “My thoughts exactly. But, like you said, he _does_ know you're here in Indianapolis. He won't find you through me, but now that he knows where to look... you're going to have to move. Might even have to change your identities.” She added, worst-case scenarios running through her head. “If they ask around the park, are there people that know the name Daniel Martel?” 

“Yes.' Grant confirmed. He looked away, turning the burner off, taking the Mac and Cheese off heat. He shook his head, looking past her, a distant look in his eyes for half a second. “You know... when I made the decision to keep Rachel, I promised myself I'd give her a normal life. As normal as constant paranoia can give her, anyway. I've always planned to tell her everything, when she's older, but...” 

“Going on the run, changing names... that's not a normal life, however you look at it.” Grant finished. “But I'm not going to let S.H.I.E.L.D. arrest me, take me away from Rachel. Or worse.” He opened the oven and took out a tray that had two pork chops on it. Kara could smell some kind of seasoning. He set the tray aside and looked at her. “If there's some way to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. from... coming after me again, without having to put Rachel through going on the run...” He closed his eyes a moment. “I want to take it.” 

Kara thought back to her conversation with Coulson that morning. _I don't imagine we'll end up keeping him in a cell for long. If there's one skill Grant Ward has shown himself to have, it is a consistent ability to wriggle out of almost anything eventually._ Coulson had said it with a note of resignation, but it did mean that holding Grant in a cell wasn't the point. Coulson did have more options than just Vault D now. He could put Grant somewhere he wouldn't be able to 'wriggle' out of on his own. Which meant... 

_Coulson is going into this willing to make a deal._ Whatever it is that the Director wanted from Grant, he _really_ wanted it. 

“There is one possibility... maybe, if I haven't completely misread Coulson's intentions...” Kara started. “Whatever it is that he wants to find out from you, that's his priority, I think.” She was speaking right as the thoughts occurred to her now. “He sent me knowing that arresting you isn't exactly something I'm in favor of. He knows you trust me, and all things said and done, he trusts me too – about as much as he does anyone who isn't May, Skye, Fitz or Simmons.” Kara caught the slight grimace of regret from Grant at the mention of his former team. 

“After dinner, give me the keys to your car. I'll drive to the other side of the city if I have to, grab a payphone and call him. Set up a meeting somewhere here in the city. Neutral ground. He can ask you what he needs to know. And in return he'll promise to leave you alone.” She let out a sigh of her own. “He's got a hell of a lot of issues, but we both know Coulson keeps his word when he actually gives it.” 

“Well, not necessarily. The day he handed me over to Christian, he said I'd never see Skye again. There're a couple bullet wounds that prove that promise wrong.” Despite the gravity of the moment and the content of his words, there was almost a lightness in his tone. Then he nodded. “But... yeah.” He bit his lip. “I don't know if I like that idea...” 

  
“I'm not sure I'm thrilled by it either.” Kara admitted. “But I can't think of a better option.” 

“I'll think on it.” He walked just into the living room and raised his voice a little. “Rachel, dinner!” 

**Streets of Downtown Indianapolis, Indiana**

**May 7 th, 2019**

Dinner – while quite good – hadn't given either her or Grant any other ideas. So here she was, on the far end of Downtown Indianapolis from Grant's – 'Daniel's' – apartment at a payphone. 

One didn't exactly just _call_ The Playground from a payphone, but there were a number of numbers you could call, say the right pass-code and you'd get transferred. An Agent could lose their agency phone, or otherwise _need_ to call headquarters or another base from a public access phone. 

And so she'd gone through the three quick transfers to get to Coulson's phone. 

“Agent Palamas. I thought you were on vacation.” Coulson wasn't _usually_ one for sarcasm, but when he went in for it, like now, it was pretty powerful stuff. 

“I am.” Kara confirmed flatly. 

“And you turned off your agency phone. Completely. You want to be off-grid, and now you're calling-” Kara cut Coulson off. 

“By way of breaking the thing against a tree, yes. Cut the crap, Director. Skye's told you what happened earlier today.” Kara didn't want to beat around the bush. She was paying for this call. She slid another quarter into the phone for good measure. 

“Yes. She did.”   
  
“Then you know about Grant's daughter.” 

“I do.” Coulson confirmed. “And doesn't _that_ raise a whole host of questions.” 

“She's not a subject of discussion.” Kara said carefully, grinding the words out. She named a cafe in downtown Indianapolis she'd picked more or less at random. It was a few blocks from this particular payphone. “Meet us there tomorrow at noon. You can bring a little back up. He'll answer your questions, whatever the hell they are. In exchange, you're going to give him your word, via me, that you'll leave him and his daughter alone. He's done nothing to get on your radar for four years. He won't be doing anything against you again. He's got other priorities.” 

“Clearly.” Coulson observed. “I figured you'd want to set up a deal like this. That's why I sent you.” 

“Actually, my plan was to break him out of his cell after you'd gotten the information you wanted, but that's irrelevant now, since no one is taking him from his little girl. He'd never accept that.” 

Coulson sighed. “I know you and I don't see eye to eye on Ward. But even you wouldn't defend him if you thought he was mistreating this little girl.” 

“Literally the worst thing he's done is refuse to buy her a double-scoop of ice cream when she demanded it.” Kara replied, an unwilling chuckle entering her voice. “So, does Grant have your word or not? He will go on the run if he has to, and it could take you years to find him again.” 

There was a long silent pause, and but for the lack of dial-tone, Kara would have thought the call was over. Then Coulson spoke: “He's got my word.” 


	9. The Aurora Initiative

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** I don't own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 
> 
> **Note 1:** No flashback this chapter. I may add more, but I think we're all eager to see the story move forward. 
> 
> **Note 2:** Just for the record, the 'revelations' about Hydra's supersekrit cult that were revealed in 3x08 – not a thing in this fic. Hydra is still into the 'take over the world because order through strength etc' stuff. None of this 'weird thousands of years worshiping a being on the other side of the monolith' nonsense. It wasn't a _terrible_ plot point, but its far too out there for the purposes of this fic. Indeed, Season 3 (or anything Ward-related post 2x19) isn't really being taken into account for this fic but I will mine it for the occasional character to use or plot point or whatever. 
> 
> Thanks to LisaMichelle25 and Riley Holden/Colormeblue for beta-reading. 

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 9: The Aurora Initiative 

**Cafe, Downtown Indianapolis**

**May 8 th, 2019**

Kara knew Grant was agitated, but she had to give it to him that he showed no visible signs of it. The cafe wasn't very full but it had the air of a place that was never really full. Maybe a third of the tables were occupied, but that was still enough people for Grant to be on full emotional control. 

Kara was also concerned, but probably not as much as Grant. Because his daughter was back at the apartment, and there was someone staying with her for the hour or so this would take at most, hopefully. Some teenaged girl that lived down the hall from Grant. Rachel was friends with the girl's younger brother, so Grant knew the girl and her family. Knew... but Grant didn't _trust_ Rachel with anyone else, as he'd said yesterday.   
  
But leaving her alone with anyone he didn't trust enough – a list that included everyone but Kara, according to Grant – was something Grant _hated_ to do. She'd suggested taking her with them, letting the little girl pull on Coulson's heartstrings, but Grant nixed the idea. 

“I'm not letting Coulson anywhere near her. And I'm not going to use her as a prop.” She could respect that desire, even if she didn't think it was the smartest move. If Skye hadn't seen Rachel, she'd have moved forward with the 'arrest him' strategy. 

_But we do have Coulson's word..._ And she trusted Coulson's word. And she could understand Grant not wanting to use his daughter as a prop. Because she wasn't a one. He cared about her. He loved her. She wasn't some _thing_ he could just use to keep himself out of prison. 

Kara sipped at her green tea latte, watching the door, then checked the watch on Grant's wrist. 11:59. They should be here soon... she looked back up at the sound of the bell by the door ringing and sure enough, Coulson was walking in. He was wearing his usual suit and tie, complete with the sunglasses, though at least he took those off as he walked in.   
  
Coulson she'd expected. What she _hadn't_ expected was for Skye to be right behind him. Kara could see the gun – probably an ICER – concealed on Skye, and the gun that Coulson also had concealed. Neither she nor Grant had come to this meeting unarmed either, so she couldn't hold that against them. 

_But what the hell is she doing here?_

The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents looked around the cafe, checking the whole area, then made their way over to the table Grant had selected. They sat with their backs to the wall, clear view of the room, and it was obscured from the windows by several other tables and some armchairs around coffee table that had magazines on it. The best they could do in this place. 

Paranoid? Maybe. But professional paranoia was something they taught you at the Ops Academy. 

“Ward.” Coulson nodded, sitting down across from the other man, then he looked over at Kara. “Agent Palamas.” Coulson's greeting was warm, inviting. Almost friendly. _Like hell._

“Coulson.” Grant said with a nod of his own. “Skye.” Still in love with Skye or not, Ward's tone was terse, without inflection. 

“Ward. Kara.” Skye said in turn to each of them. Skye's tone was icy and annoyed. At least it wasn't angry. _Well, I did ditch her on a mission to hang out with the guy she both loves and hates._

  
“Oh please, just... what is she doing here, Coulson?” Kara drummed her fingers on the table for a moment, then sipped at her latte again. 

“The same reason you're here. Backup. The questions I have are for Ward. But you're here because he's your friend and because you're here to back him up. Skye's here because she's the Agent on hand and I can't trust Ward completely. And I'm sure that's mutual.” 

_True enough._

“Then ask your questions, Coulson.” Grant demanded. “I want this over with as soon as possible.” 

“Eager to get home to your daughter, I take it?” Coulson asked, taking a folded sheet of paper out of his suit jacket. 

“Yes, actually. But Rachel isn't a subject for discussion. I'm not answering any questions about her.” Now there was inflection. Grant could have kept the emotions under control but he wasn't. He was letting them know Rachel was dangerous ground – the way he enunciated the words, the way he gritted his teeth. 

Coulson raised an eyebrow but was otherwise unfazed. It was one of the things that made Coulson so good as Director. It was hard to get a rise out of him. Including now, apparently. 

“All right. She's off the table. But here's what is.” Coulson dropped the paper on the table and Kara watched Grant pick it up and unfold it. _A level 9 document? Unredacted?_ Kara looked over at it. It was details on the shut down of some unspecific scientific project. The “Aurora Initiative”. But her eyes gravitated to two things: the date, and the name of the overseeing agent when it was shut down. John Garrett. And seven years ago. 

_What the hell? That's what Coulson wanted to know about?_ And it was level nine. Seven years ago... Grant was level six. Sure, Garrett wouldn't have cared about the clearance levels, but still... 

_This?_ And apparently, Grant shared her sentiments.   
  
“This? This is what you want to know about? A dead-end project that Garrett oversaw for a bit before it got shut down? Seven years ago? The Aurora Initiative was a complete failure.” Grant dropped the paper. “It was an insane idea to begin with.” Kara looked at him as he spoke. There was something... Grant wasn't lying. But there was something. 

“So you do know about it. Good. I figured John Garrett wouldn't care about the official clearance level.” Coulson picked up the paper and folded it back up, slipping it into his jacket. 

“A lot of us in Hydra knew about it. At least once you got past the grunts. It was part of Strucker's obsession.” _Strucker's obsession?_ From everything Kara knew, Strucker had been obsessed with powered people. More particularly, with controlling them. With using them as a way to take over. It clicked in Kara's mind. Maybe. _Hydra 4.0. has a lot of powered people. Does Coulson think this might be involved?_ “But he shut it down once S.H.I.E.L.D. got Loki's staff and he started messing around with that.” Grant gestured widely. “And we both know how that turned out.” 

“See? You already know more than I do.” Coulson pointed out calmly. “From what little I could gather from the files Fury left me, I knew it got shut down. I figured it was really Hydra's doing since the whole thing was all Hydra personnel, but I didn't know why. So it just wasn't working fast enough for Strucker's tastes?” 

Grant shook his head quickly – too quickly? “No. It was a complete failure. It wasn't working at all. As soon as he had a more viable option, he took it and shut the Aurora Initiative down.” 

_Yes, but what exactly is it? What is this whole thing about and why do you want to know about it Coulson?_ Before Kara could ask, Skye gave voice to the questions beating at the inside of Kara's skull: 

“Okay, can someone tell me what the _hell_ this 'Aurora Initiative' was?” Skye gestured to Kara. “It's pretty clear that Kara is just as in the dark as I am.” 

“Don't use me as your prop!” Kara protested, then... “But yes, I'd appreciate some enlightenment.” She looked to Grant. 

“Ward? Do you want to take this?” Coulson inclined his head a little, raising an eyebrow again. “You know more about it than I do.” 

“The Aurora Initiative was Hydra's attempt to manufacture powered people though genetic manipulation. I don't know the details, but the idea was to figure out how the DNA of people on the Index worked and then apply that to non-powered people. Not a single subject got powers and most of them died.” Grant grimaced. “Garrett showed me one of the bodies once...” He let his voice trail off in disgust. 

“And you stayed with Hydra.” Skye shook her head. “With Garrett.” 

“And you know why, Skye.” Kara cut in. “Can the self-superior attitude.” Skye knew enough anyway. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Grant react to that, and she realized she might have wanted to watch her words. Or... really... 

_I should have told him yesterday that I told Skye some of what I knew about what Garrett did to you._ It just... hadn't really come up yet. Amongst everything else. 

“But it was a failure. And I wasn't involved. I only know what Garrett told me, which wasn't much.” Grant said, ignoring her side conversation with Skye for the moment. _I'll be hearing about it later, I'm sure._

“You still you know more than anyone else, Ward.” Coulson replied. “Every agent and scientist who _was_ involved is dead now, even Arthur and Rebecca Haselrun.” Those were two names that Kara recognized. Because Grant had just mentioned them to her yesterday. 

_Rachel's parents were involved._ No wonder Grant was bothered... 

Hydra had killed the Haselruns, and the kill team had been tryingt to steal their files. Their research? 

_Hydra 4.0. isn't bringing powered people into itself. It's **making** them._

“You think Hydra restarted the Aurora Initiative.” Kara stated, looking at Coulson. “You think that's why Hydra has all those powered people working for it now. People who aren't Inhumans. You think they made it work.” 

“I do.” Coulson confirmed. “And that's why I need to know everything you know about it. I need to know if you know anyone who was working on it who might still be alive. If you know anything about their avenues of research.” 

Grant shook his head. “I don't know more than what I've told you, Coulson. I know it was a thing. I know they were trying to make powered people. I saw a body – the body that had half collapsed into goo because the DNA became unstable in a matter of hours. Or something like that. And I know it got shut down for being a failure.” His tone was firm, icy and she could feel the tension mounting around him. 

_Didn't you look at any of the Haselruns' research?_ It was possible – but if Grant knew something more, he'd say it, right? W _hy didn't he tell me about this?_ Well... because there hadn't been time, and because as he said, the Aurora Initiative had been a failure. He probably didn't imagine it was relevant. 

Kara wanted to ask him questions, about if there was anything relevant he remembered from the file he found about the kill team going after the Haselruns that started him heading to their place. Or if he remembered anything from the day he took out that Hydra Kill team and found Rachel. But she couldn't ask them in front of Coulson. She wouldn't betray Grant's trust like that. 

Coulson didn't need to know about Rachel's parentage. It wasn't relevant. 

“Ward, innocent people are dying because Hydra has a new weapon. That doesn't mean nothing to you. When you came back for Kara, even though you knew I was there waiting for you, I knew there was still a spark of good left in you buried under everything. Letting Kara stay with S.H.I.E.L.D., where we could help her only proved that. You didn't believe in Hydra's ideals. Took me a while to get that, but I did, eventually.” Coulson brought both his hands onto the table, interlacing his fingers as he clasped his hands together. “Help me and you'll never have to worry about me or S.H.I.E.L.D. again. You've been looking over your shoulder for years now, Ward. Help me stop Hydra and you won't even have to worry about them.” 

“How many times has S.H.I.E.L.D. stopped Hydra, Coulson? They always come back. It's what they do.” Grant was terse and direct as he spoke. “And I seem to recall you promising me I'd never have to look over my shoulder again last time I helped you and yet here you are.” Grant pointed out coldly. “No, I don't believe in Hydra's ideals. So glad you finally got that. Little late, but there we go.”   
  
“I didn't chase you for four years, Ward. I could have looked harder for you but I didn't. Kara's right, you've done nothing to attract our attention, nothing to get on our radar.” Coulson raised a hand. “You want this to be over, fine. Tell me what you know. Even if it isn't much, it'll be more than I have.” 

“I've told you what I know.” Grant said. “They were trying to make powered people. They'd try to isolate what they thought made a powered person tick and then change a normal person's genes to match. Or something like that. It was a slow process to even get the genetic manipulation right. That was one of Garrett's big complaints. And then... most of the time, it didn't take. The changes were too... I don't know what the technical term is. But their new or changed DNA wouldn't take and went 'unstable'. I don't know the details. Their bodies ended up... well, there's no better word for it than goo. Not completely but close. A handful made it through alive but not with powers.” 

“Sounds like bad science-fiction.” Skye muttered quietly, though not so quiet that she wasn't heard. Despite the gravity of the situation, Kara laughed. 

“You joined up with S.H.I.E.L.D. how long ago? Half of what we do reads like bad science-fiction.” She looked at Coulson. “So if you're right, Hydra's figured out a way to... make it work. The powers and the not dying. I can only hope it still takes them a long time or we'll see a whole army of empowered Hydra next time we go into the field.” 

“Just a couple is bad enough.” Skye agreed. She let out a breath. 

“That's all I've got for you Coulson. If everyone else is dead...” Grant gestured to Coulson. “That sheet. Show me again.” Coulson raised an eyebrow, both at the request and at the expression of dawning recognition on Grant's face, but Kara watched as Coulson handed over the paper again and Grant unfolded it. “This sheet doesn't mention Dr. Frist.” 

“Dr. Frist?”   
  
“Marcus Joachim Frist. One of Strucker's people, originally. They had a falling out when he couldn't get results. That's when the Haselruns were brought in. Unlike Frist, they didn't believe. I don't even know if they knew about Hydra at all. They just wanted to pursue scientific discovery.” 

“By experimenting on people.” Skye spat. “Still fucking evil.” 

“All the test subjects were willing. Hydra didn't want powered people they didn't have the allegiance of.” Ward corrected her coldly. “Frist didn't leave Hydra, but he went out to the fringes after Strucker replaced him. But he made it through the fall of the Triskellion.” 

“How do you know that?” Coulson's question wasn't hostile. Just a question. Kara wondered the same – though there were a number of possible explanations she could think of. 

“When I was with Whitehall for a few weeks... before... San Juan,” Ward spared Skye a look that Kara couldn't quite read. “I overheard part of a conversation Whitehall had on the phone with him. Frist was trying to convince Whitehall that he should move against Strucker, I think. Whitehall was too obsessed with his Obelisk and unlocking its secrets to care about it in the short term. So he was alive then at least. I don't know if he still is. But if he is... and some faction of Hydra has restarted the Aurora Initiative? He's the one behind it. Or he's involved. That's most likely. At the very least, he'll know more than I do.” Grant stood up, looking over and down at Coulson. “And no, I don't know where he is, or how to find him.” 

“It's something to go on.” Coulson nodded. “All right. If that's all you know-” Coulson shrugged. “A deal is a deal. Don't do anything to get on our radar and you're a free man. Raise your daughter.” Kara watched as the Director looked over at her. “Agent Palamas, I expect you back at the Playground for a new assignment once your vacation time is done. But how you spend your time when you're not on the job is of no concern to myself or S.H.I.E.L.D.” 

“Glad to hear it. See you in two and a half weeks.” Kara finished off her latte and set the empty mug back on the table. 

“Good.” Grant said, in response to Coulson's words. He looked over at Skye, and Kara could see... just the slightest hint of regret in his eyes. Seeing her again hadn't helped. Of course it wouldn't. When he spoke again, there was the slightest note of genuine warmth. “Skye.” 

“Ward.” Skye said in turn, and Kara could hear the tiniest crack in her voice, the tiniest hint of the feelings Skye still had for Grant. Kara couldn't help but shake her head just a little. _You're fucking idiots._ How was moving on so hard for them? Even right here, right now... 

_There's no chance for them. So why?_ Kara suppressed the sigh of exasperation she wanted to let out and followed Grant out of the cafe as he left without another word. Only when they were safely inside of his car did she speak. 

“Rachel's parents were in charge of this... Aurora Initiative? You didn't mention they were Hydra.” Kara watched as Grant started up the car and pulled out of the parallel parking spot he'd been in. She wasn't accusing him. There wasn't an accusation to be made here, really. 

“I don't think they were. I told Coulson everything I know about the Aurora Initiative. Like I said, they just wanted to pursue scientific research. Garrett never said anything, but...” He shook his head. “I'd mostly forgotten about them when I found out about the Kill Team going for them. Mostly I was just going after the team, not to save the targets. And until today, I pretty much _had_ forgotten about Frist. I've had other things to deal with, worry about.” He shook his head and let out a breath. 

“I didn't mention their connection to the Aurora Initiative because it wasn't relevant. Like I told Coulson, it was a failure and it was shut down. The fact that Rachel is the Haselruns' daughter was irrelevant to Coulson's questions.” 

“I figured.” Kara looked ahead onto the road, then back over at Grant. “Do you think this Dr. Frist is the one who ordered the hit on Arthur and Rebecca Haselrun?” 

“If he's behind this new version of the Aurora Initiative, then yes, almost certainly.” Grant agreed. “Probably hoped to get hold of any records or research they may have kept from the Initiative, or anything they'd done since it had ended. Even without all that, he's clearly managed to get it working.” 

“Did they even have more research?” There was just something about Grant's tone, expression. He was keeping something back. She'd thought it was just the connection between Rachel and the Aurora Initiative that he was keeping from Coulson. But there was something else. “Grant. What else is there?” 

“I told Coulson everything I knew about the Aurora Initiative. But there's something else. It's not really something you can just drop into casual conversation. I'll tell you when we get back to my apartment.” Grant focused on the road, gripping the wheel tight. 

_What could it be?_ A few possibilities crossed her mind, but she rejected them all out of hand as too outlandish. “You were going to tell me though?” She was guessing that from his tone, but she wanted to be sure. 

“Yes.” Grant confirmed. “Just like I said... a little more than what you can just slip into conversation. It hasn't even been a day yet.” 

“No, it hasn't.” Kara agreed. “All right.” She smiled a little, “So... how does it feel to have the specter of S.H.I.E.L.D. not hanging over you anymore?” 

“I'll believe it's not hanging over me when I'm dead.” Grant replied. “Coulson doesn't run the entire agency. He proved that four years ago. Could happen again. And if he stops being Director...” He shook his head. “No. I'll be watching my back the rest of my life.” He let out a long breath. “I've earned that much and more after everything I've done.” 

**Outside Daniel Martel's Apartment Building, Indianapolis**

**May 8 th, 2019**

Kara saw them first. 

Police cars, three of them, outside of the apartment building. Even though they could be for anything, her throat clenched immediately, wondering if something had happened to Rachel. 

A fan of kids or not, it was hard not to like that little girl. And what it would do to Grant if something- 

_No. There's ten floors._ But she could see the way Grant's hands tightened around the wheel even more as he pulled into a parking space. He was parked and getting out of the driver's seat even before shutting the car down. Hurrying with her own seatbelt, Kara followed after him, moving as quickly as she could. 

“Grant, there's a whole apartment building.” Nothing could have happened. It had nothing to do with Rachel. All thoughts of whatever it was that Grant was intending to tell her – which had dominated her thoughts during the mostly silent drive back - 

“I know.” Grant didn't slow down his pace walking though. “But until I'm there- I don't take chances with her safety.” Grant made it into the lobby, but was greeted by the sight of three uniformed police officers and several stunned looking people she could only guess were other residents of the apartment. 

“What happened?” Kara watched Grant get the attention of one and ask the question he needed – she needed too – an answer to. 

“Oh,” the elderly woman said emotionally, holding onto her handbag tightly. “It's horrible. They're saying that someone broke into the Fergusons' apartment and killed them _all!_ Even the children!” 

“The Fergusons'...” Grant's expression hardened into expressionlessness. “In 4E. That means Rachel-” He swallowed moving towards the elevator with even more speed, and Kara raced after him. She got inside the elevator and watched it close behind her. 

“The Fergusons?” 

“Neighbors. I don't know them very well.” Kara watched in amazement as Grant pressed the button for the fourth floor a second time. “Pass them in the halls, say hi, I know their names. But that's about it. But if someone – Rachel was right next door. She could've heard...” Grant was out of the elevator just about as soon as it opened. The doorway to apartment 4E was covered with police tape, but Kara more or less ignored it and the two more cops standing outside of the open door. She followed Grant into Apartment 4C – his apartment, closing the door behind her. 

Kara couldn't guess what that would be like for the girl. Sure, she could not really register it – did she even know what the sound of a gunshot represented... but what if there were screams? Or if they hadn't used guns? 

The apartment was just fine. But... 

There was no Rachel. And no sounds coming from her bedroom. And no sign of the very temporary babysitter. 

“Rachel? Rachel!” Grant raced down the little hallway into Rachel's room, and Kara huried after, peering into Grant's room – no sign of her – as she went. No sign of anyone else. 

And there was no sign of her in her bedroom. And her stuffed ponies and unicorns... strewn all over the room, all out of place. Rachel had had specific places for all of them. And her 'favorite' one, a blue unicorn she'd named Albert... 

Kara couldn't see that one at all. 


	10. Who – What? Is Rachel?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** I don't own it. 
> 
> Thanks to Riley Holden/Colormeblue and LisaMichelle25 for their help as beta-readers. 

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 10: Who – What? Is Rachel? 

**Daniel Martel's Apartment, Indianapolis**

**May 8 th, 2019**

“Rachel!” Kara watched him start to tear through the room, looking under the bed for her. Then he pushed past her, going to the one room he hadn't looked in – the bathroom door was closed, but if Rachel was in there... 

_She'd have called out..._

Kara shook her head. No. 

Grant pulled the door open, and the two of them saw the dead, blue-haired teenage girl lying on the white linoleum, blood matting her hair and spilled out onto the tiles from a single gunshot wound in her head. The girl... 

The girl that Grant had asked to keep an eye on Rachel. _Tiffany._ That was her name, Kara remembered now. Just a fifteen year old girl happy to watch her neighbor's pretty well behaved kid for an hour or two in exchange for some spending money. 

_And now she's dead... and Rachel's gone._ That was the only explanation. Someone had taken Rachel. But who? Why? And... was it connected to the - 

_The Fergusons. Dead. The babysitter. Dead._ It was easy to add it up. Someone had _come_ for Rachel. That had been the whole point. Their deaths... it must have been to cover up any of Rachel's protests 

Grant turned towards her, a look of despair on his face, fear and anger in his eyes. “She's gone.” He sounded... lost. Almost as if his voice was an echo being reflected off of some distant surface, bouncing around an empty chamber. _And damn, wasn't that_ _unnecessarily poetic._ “She's gone!” Grant spun, driving his fist into the wall – and recoiling, though he made no sound of pain. “She's gone!” He punched again, then again and again and- 

Kara grabbed Grant's shoulder, then putting her arm around his midsection, pulling him away from the wall. For a moment, she was making it work, but then Grant responded, breaking out of her grip and knocking her away – or at least, he tried to. Maybe it was luck, maybe he'd gotten just a tiny bit rusty, maybe he was too distraught – but she managed to push him up against the wall. 

“Grant!” Kara kept her hands on his arms, holding him in place. “Take a breath, control yourself. You can't help your daughter if you don't _calm down_.” 

“Calm! How the hell am I supposed to be calm? Coulson has my daughter!” Grant growled furiously, struggling against her arms pinning him to the wall. 

_Wait? What?_ Coulson? Why the hell would Grant think- Kara blinked, shaking her head in confusion. “Grant, what the hell? Why would you think _Coulson_ would have your daughter? Sure, the timing is – but why the hell would he want her – he just let you walk! He obviously doesn't want leverage – he had you in his hand. He's done with you, Grant, and thank god for that!” 

“She's _gifted_!” Grant replied, slumping back. “She's gifted – Coulson has every reason to want to get his hands on her!” 

If Kara had been thrown by Grant's accusation of Coulson, she was... blown halfway across town by that. _Rachel's **gifted**?_ What the hell? She stepped back, letting Grant step away from the wall, not even trying to keep the confusion off of her face, or even the feeling of hurt – he hadn't told her? Hadn't trusted her with that information? What the fuck? 

“Gifted? How the hell is she-?” Then it made sense. The Haselruns. Killed by Hydra. “The Aurora Initiative. They made it work. They _made_ her gifted. That's why Hydra killed them.” Grant nodded wordlessly. “We're gonna talk about that in a minute, but there are other things going on right now. Grant, even if Coulson would kidnap a little girl, powered or not, he wouldn't kill an entirely family and fifteen year old babysitter along the way! Coulson's a lot of things, and he'll have people killed to get the job done, but _this?_ This wasn't him, and you know it!” 

Kara shook her head. “It's Hydra. This isn't the first time they've had someone inside S.H.I.E.L.D. or the first time they've gotten useful information from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. God, they could have found you the same way Coulson did and watched the building until you left! But you _know_ this wasn't Coulson.” She watched Grant, eyes on his, and then slowly, he nodded. 

“No. This isn't him.” Grant clenched his hands into fists. “But that doesn't mean someone else in S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't behind it. This isn't the first time he's faced resistance from within the organization.” 

“I doubt it. There's nothing like what Gonzalez was running. Not anymore. But... I suppose it's possible.” Kara doubted it. But she wasn't going to force the point. “The police will be here sooner or later – Tiffany's family will come looking for her, if nothing else. If you're not planning on being bogged down by law enforcement, then we'd better take everything you need and get the hell out of here.” Kara put her hand on his shoulder. “We will find your daughter. Whoever took her, wherever she is, we'll find her. I know you won't let anything stop you – and I'm going to be there to help you, every step of the way.” This was Grant's daughter. And Grant was her friend. She was going to help him save Rachel. 

Grant took a breath, closed his eyes for a few seconds, then let the breath out, opening his eyes. She saw it. He'd dropped that professional wall right down on top of everything. What he felt didn't matter. Only the mission mattered. “Kitchen, in the back of the cabinet to the left of the sink. Underneath it there's a compartment. There're burner phones, emergency cash and a storage key.” 

“You keep your weapons offsite?” It made sense... 

“Of course I do.” Grant replied. “I wasn't about to risk Rachel...” He bit his lip. “Get them. I'll get the rest.” She watched him move into his bedroom and tear open the close door, peeling away the wood lining the actual doorway itself. Kara turned away, moving into the kitchen and finding the cabinet he'd indicated. It was filled with pans and strainers – Kara cleared them away, letting them scatter all over the floor and searched for the catch in the bottom – when she found it, she lifted it out, finding a small duffel bag stuffed into the compartment, which she promptly pulled out and checked. Four burner phones, the storage key and about four-thousand in cash. She grabbed two burner phones and zipped the bag up, throwing it over her shoulder. 

“Found it!” She walked back into the living room, and saw Grant typing something on one of the keyboards. Whatever it was, he had it done quickly, and then did the same to the other two. There was a backpack on his back, and within moments he too was in the living room. 

“Computers are wiped – doesn't look like Hydra tried to get onto them, but I can't tell.” He produced a key from his pocket – a key that wasn't to his car. 

“You have a second car?” Some emergency cash stashed she could get, but where did he have the money for a- 

“No. I made a copy of one of the neighbor's keys.” Grant explained. “They still live here, and park it in the same place every morning when they come back from the night shift – and they don't leave during the day. One of my escape plans.” 

Well, that made sense. “So we're going to steal the car?” Kara wasn't that bothered by the prospect. Specialists had to do it all the time, in the field. Of course, it was still illegal, but given both the circumstances and the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. was still technically an illegal organization? Didn't really bother her all that much, and the illegality of it all mattered not one bit to her. 

“Just for a bit. Then we'll probably steal another. If Hydra has been watching... then they might know what my car looks like.” He nodded to the duffel bag. “Everything in there?” 

“Yep.” She tossed him one of the burner phones. “I need answers, Grant.” Why hadn't he told her about his daughter? Had he taken her in because she was powered? What was her power? 

Grant caught the phone deftly and slipped it into his pocket. “And I'll give them to you on the way. But right now, we need to move.” His specialist mask was slipping, and she caught the desperation in his voice, an ever-so faint hint. 

Kara nodded. “You're right.” She went to the door – the police seemed to be still focused on the Ferguson's apartment, so Kara stepped out, the duffel bag over her shoulder – Grant was right behind her. The two of them moved purposefully into the elevator, as if they had nothing to hide, were in no rush. Both were complete lies, but it was the key to not attracting attention, and it worked. Soon enough, they had taken the elevator to the bottom floor and were out the door, all without attracting attention. 

She followed Grant to the third parking space from the door. The car in question was an SUV – big even for SUVs, painted a dark midnight blue. Grant slipped the key into the slot and opened the door, unlocking it for Kara. 

“We'll leave it at the storage facility and get another there. After that – we'll need to change cars frequently.” Grant replied. He bit his lip, starting the car up and backing it out of the space. “All right. What do you want to know?” 

_Really?_ “Grant, where do I even start? Rachel is powered? Her parents made their research work, and they did it to their daughter? Is she even their actual daughter?” 

“As far as I know, yes, she is. She gestated in an artificial womb, but biologically, she is Arthur and Rebecca Haselrun's child. As for why they did it to their own kid – I don't know. I can't make any sense of their lab notes. The ones I have anyway.” 

“You have their lab notes? What the hell? Was that the whole reason you took her?” Kara demanded. The answers were only giving her more questions. She trusted Grant, still, but this – she needed to understand. She believed Grant loved Rachel, whatever his initial motives, but if she was going to understand all the missing pieces here, the she needed information. 

“Some of them.” Grant took the SUV out of the parking lot. “Let me talk it from the top: No, I didn't know originally. When I took Rachel out of that house, I fully intended to just drop her off at an orphanage, like I told you. But it only took me a few hours to change my mind, to keep her, like I told you... so I went back. I figured I could take a few things, things belonging to her parents. A photo album, something like that, to show her when she was old enough to know all the details about her parents. One of the things I took was a laptop computer – it was in their bedroom, so I figured it was a personal computer, not related to their work. I didn't touch it after finding a place for it here. And I didn't know about her power until her second birthday. Neither did she, I'm guessing.” 

_Why a second birthday in particular?_ It seemed arbitrary. Was it just pure happenstance, or was there something that happened then that caused her gift, whatever it was, to manifest? Kara was about to ask what had happened when it suddenly came to her. 

The fire alarms. It had made no sense why he had so many, especially since he had no fireplace. In and near the kitchen she got, but why so many, _everywhere_? 

“She can control fire, can't she? She did something to her birthday candle.” She spoke the words slowly, unsure. It made sense, but was it necessarily the case? 

“Nearly turned it into a bonfire. Give her even the smallest flame and she can turn it into a lot more, and she seems to be able to direct it a little too. She doesn't control it very well... but she can mostly not do it – it's one of the reasons I changed to an electric stove once I realized... after she almost set the kitchen on fire, I dug out the Haselruns' laptop. I wanted to know what the hell just happened. And that's how I found out.” 

“That her parents had made her gifted.” Kara finished slowly. “But then why did Hydra kill them?” 

“The Haselruns were under contract from Hydra – and by then, they really did know that it was Hydra they were working for. They didn't care – they just wanted the money to do the research they wanted. But when they successfully made her powered... they had to turn their daughter, their own flesh and blood, over to Hydra. So they could repeat what made it work, so they could turn her into a weapon for their use. I mean, imagine what you could do with a soldier who could control fire. Give them a lighter, or a book of matches... no need for a bulky flamethrower to burn enemies out of their fortifications.” 

Grant shook his head. “I don't know if it was a sudden attack of the conscience, or parental instincts or what, but they decided not to turn Rachel over to Hydra. I read a few of the e-mails they shared with their backers within the organization. They were trying to spin things out... claim that Rachel wasn't ready to be handed over, there were more tests they needed to run...” Kara watched Grant run a red light. They were in a hurry, yes, but breaking traffic laws was a way to risk bringing undue and unneeded attention to them. Traffic cops could be annoyingly persistent, and she was not on board with shooting one just because it was convenient. Grant... 

She didn't think he'd go for it, but he could. If the mission called for it, if it had to be done... he was capable of doing it, just shooting a cop in the head. And if anyone got in the way of rescuing his daughter... 

“But really,” Grant continued, “They were just trying to delay until they could escape. They'd made contact with a smuggler, someone who could get the three of them out of the country and hide somewhere else under new identities. Unfortunately, someone at Hydra decided to call their bluff, or something.” He let out a sigh. “That's why they hadn't killed Rachel yet, of course. I can only guess they were going to try to take her back for dissection.” 

“Or vivisection.” Kara pointed out. She put a hand on Grant's arm gently. “We'll get her before they can do anything to her, Grant.” 

“I still haven't ruled Coulson out, Kara.” He grabbed one of the burner phones, rolling down the window a little as he continued to drive. “The number. Now.” 

“Grant-” Kara started, but then she bit her lip, cutting herself off.. She didn't think Coulson was behind this – he was capable of making some pretty harsh decisions, but not this. And the way he'd given Skye so much free reign on handling the Index? No, he wouldn't just kidnap a powered kid, let alone kill a half-dozen completely people along the way. But Grant hadn't been working under the man's leadership for four years. His last memories of the man were imprisonment, being traded to his older brother for political support and being 'bribed' with a memory-wipe. Not the best things to hold onto about the man, Kara had to admit – and high among the things she still held against Coulson. Taking a breath, Kara gave him the number without additional commentary. 

She watched as Grant dialed it and brought the phone up to his ear. She heard Coulson's voice coming through. 

“Hello?” 

“Coulson.” Grant's professional, level, focused tone was gone, replaced with pure icy anger. “Where is my daughter?” Each word was delivered with a careful precision, rage rolling off of each word. 

“Ward? What the _hell_ are you talking about? Where's Agent Palamas?” It was hard to tell, but Kara was unsurprised to hear what sounded like genuine confusion on the other end of the line. 

“I'm right here, sir.” Kara said, snatching the phone from Grant's grasp. He was prevented from trying to take it back by the a car careening in front of them – Grant was ignoring all traffic laws as he went, including proper turns on a red light. “Grant's daughter is missing, and among others, the neighbor's daughter that Grant paid to keep an eye on her while we met with you is dead. Given the fact that she was taken while we were meeting with you, he's suspicious.” 

“Why in the hell would we want his daughter? I know Ward's gone around the bend a few times since Garret died-” Kara bit back the retort as Coulson questioned Grant's sanity, and just cut him off with the truth. 

“Rachel is powered.” Kara answered quickly. “And no, I'm not going into any details about the hows and whys, _sir._ ” She pre-empted his next obvious question. 

“You're just going to spring it on me that a dangerous criminal has a powered daughter? And he thinks I took her? Put me on speaker.” Kara bit her lip against another retort, and noted that if she did that again, she might just draw blood. Silently, she put the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. on speaker. 

“Ward, I had no idea that your daughter was powered, and I have no idea where she is. If you decide to come after the agency thinking we have her, I will see to it you're crossed off, one way or the other.” Kara rolled her eyes at the threat. Grant just made it worse with his response: 

“Just try it, Coulson. Anyone you put between me and Rachel will not last long. If you have her, I will burn S.H.I.E.L.D. down around your ears getting her back.” If they were in person, she'd just tell them to whip it out. Well, no she wouldn't. Not given the situation. Instead, she just took the phone back, taking it off speaker.   
  
“Sir, this argument will go nowhere. And the only one who benefits from it is Hydra, since they're probably the ones who took her. I _suggest_ that you check your own house, and then I _strongly_ suggest that you put Skye on the line _right_ now.” They needed information, and that meant, for starters, they needed everything the police were saying and thinking in regards to the killings that Hydra must have used as cover for the capture of Rachel. 

Neither Grant nor Coulson seemed to get just why she would be demanding Skye be put on the line when they spoke in near unison, on opposite ends of the phone-call: 

“Skye?” 

“Hydra almost certainly took Rachel – Skye might be able to help us figure out who has her and where she is, and then Grant and I can tear them apart until we find her. That can only benefit you, so _put Skye on the line._ ” She was speaking for Grant's benefit as much as anything else. She really didn't like the idea of asking the other woman for help, but she was still the best hacker S.H.I.E.L.D. had, and the girl would have no problem helping find a kidnapped little girl, even one that belonged to Traitor and Murderer Grant Ward. Unlike some in the agency. 

_Given that she still loves him, it might even make her even more willing to help._ Never did Kara think she'd be grateful for the fact that the two idiots still had feelings for each other, but right now, she was. 

There was a silence on the other end of the line for a moment, then the sound of the phone being passed, and then she heard Skye's voice on the other end: 

“So not only does Ward have a daughter, but she's powered, and now she's kidnapped? And you want my help. There're a lot of other people in this agency, including people you count as friends, who would be willing to help you. Why me?” 

“Are you saying you won't help a little girl kidnapped by Hydra before she can be vivisected or dissected or whatever Hydra is planning?” When in doubt, play on the heartstrings. 

“No. Of course not.” Skye confirmed within seconds. “What do you need?” 

Ignoring Grant's reaction, Kara gave Skye his now obsolete address. “Someone murdered an entire family on the same floor as Grant's apartment, at the same time someone broke into that apartment, killed the babysitter and took Rachel. The police are already there on the family – I want to know everything the police find out, suspect, say or whatever about the deaths and the missing girl. And we need to know it as quickly as possible. And then I need what little intel we have on bases, operatives and suppliers for Hydra 4.0.” 

“Do you really think the two of you are going to be enough to take on all of Hydra, Kara?” Skye demanded. 

“You know how good Grant is, and you know how good I am. Now factor in that Grant will do _anything_ to get his daughter back.” Kara answered flatly. 

There was nothing for a moment, then: “I almost feel sorry for whatever Hydra you run into. It'll take me a little time to compile all that information. Should I call you back on this-” 

“God no. I'll call you in three hours. Will that be enough time?” 

“Plenty.” Skye started to say something then stopped. After a moment, she started again: “Tell him I hope he finds her.” 


	11. Kick in the Door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** I don't own it. At all. 
> 
> **Note:** I actually did a little research, and according to Straight Dope.com (who did a little experiment), Whiskey is actually a fairly decent emergency antiseptic, though you really shouldn't use it if you can avoid it. 
> 
> Thanks extended to Riley Holden/Colormeblue and LisaMichelle25 for beta-reading 

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 11: Kick in the Door 

**Outside the Loros Financial Building,** **Indianapolis**

**May 8 th, 2019**

Grant's collection of weapons had been just about what she'd expected: expansive, highly illegal and almost certainly overkill. He had rocket launchers, for God's sake! As soon as they were done loading the weapons into a brand new stolen – hotwired this time – SUV, Kara took out another one of the burner phones and called Skye even as they were driving. 

The only lead Skye had for them was a slim one, but it was better than nothing. As far as S.H.I.E.L.D. knew for sure, Hydra had no bases, fronts, shell corporations or other installations in and around Indianapolis. Wasn't really a likely spot for them, all said and done. But there was something that Skye told them she was 'eighty-five percent' sure was at least Hydra-adjacent, if not more so.  
  
Loros Financial Global was some kind of vaguely defined, nebulous money-moving company that owned an office building in downtown Indianapolis. 

“They could just be your run of the mill criminals, but some of the money our people have tracked coming in and out of their accounts ends up in places or comes from places we _know_ are Hydra. It's something at least.” Skye told Kara over the phone as Grant drove by the Loros Financial Building. 

“I have to say the place lacks that certain ominous cloud of doom you'd expect to see outside of a Hydra front.” Kara told Skye. “Eighty-five percent you said?” 

“Eighty-five percent. They're in with Hydra. Whether it's just some sort of working partnership or something more, I don't know.” Skye replied. “I'm still digging. But you know how little we know about Hydra 4.0.” She let out a soft sigh. “Tell Ward – tell him I'm doing everything I can to help him save his daughter.” 

“I will.” Kara replied softly. “I'll call you back when we're done.” Kara hung up the burner phone, not destroying it this time. If there was any sign S.H.I.E.L.D. was trying to track them with it, she'd destroy it, but they didn't have an _infinite_ supply of the things. 

The way forward, as far as Kara could tell, was to simply start hitting Hydra as hard as they could and hope for the best. Either they would find Rachel when they hit a place, they'd fijnd someone or something who could tell them where she was, or they'd cut so far and so deep into Hydra 4.0.'s network that the bastards would hand Rachel over just to get them to stop. 

Kara had to admit that a certain viscious part of her hoped that that last option was what would happen. There would be something incredibly cathartic for her – and even more for the tense, strung-out Grant sitting next to her in the car – about leaving a trail of dead Hydra agents in their wake. More practically, though, she knew the last option was the one they really, _really_ , didn't want. There was every risk it would take too long, or that Hydra would decide to use Rachel as a _threat_ to get Grant to leave them alone. 

And if it did take too long... 

Kara forced that thought out of her head. That wasn't going to happen. They were going to save Rachel. She wasn't going to be experimented on or brainwashed or killed or... or anything. Because they were going to save her. Kara didn't want to imagine what would happen to Grant if his daughter died. She was already seeing him more... intense than she'd ever seen him before. She couldn't imagine what he'd be like if his daughter died. It was a genuinely frightening thought. 

“This is the place?” Grant gestured to the fifteen story building on their left. 

“Yeah.” Kara confirmed. “How do you want to do this?” 

“We go in through the front door.” Grant turned the car down another street, seemingly towards a parking garage. 

“Just like that?” Kara blinked. “You don't think that's a little risky? If this is really a Hydra base... I don't think we want to just leave most of the heavy weaponry in a parking garage.” 

“They aren't going to have a whole army in the lobby.” Grant pointed out. “And we're not leaving _anything_ in a parking garage.” Before Kara could ask what the hell he meant by that, Grant turned the car, _hard,_ spinning the wheel as far to the right as he could, the tires screeching wildly against the street as another car on the road pulled up hurriedly short, honking angrily at them. As big, unwieldy and un-maneuverable as the SUV was, it was surprising they didn't hit another car, but they were turned around – and half on the sidewalk. 

“You're going to drive right in there? In through the front doors?” She knew Grant was ready to burn the whole world down to get Rachel back, but this was _insane_. “This might not even be related to Hydra-” 

“If there's one thing I learned when I was on that plane five years ago, it was to trust Skye's instincts on this sort of thing.” Grant replied. “If she thinks this place is connected to Hydra, it is.” The look of deadly calm on his face as they broke at least a half-dozen traffic laws brooked no argument. But Kara wasn't content to just take that. 

“And if she turns out to be wrong? Are you really willing to risk Rachel on Skye's instincts?” Kara gripped her pistol, flicking the safety off as Grant turned the corner. Before Grant could respond, he turned the car one last time, spinning a _very_ hard left. Kara held onto the armrests for dear life as the car crashed right into the glass double doors that served as the main entrance, sliding into the lobby. The people inside scattered and fled. By fluke as much as anything else, no one got hit. But there were screams of fear as the people ran. 

Grant turned the car off and stepped out of the car, pulling two pistols from the shoulder-holsters under his brown leather jacket. Muttering some choice curses, Kara got out of the car and grabbed a shotgun, keeping her own pistols holstered. 

“Grant, if this goes south, I'm haunting you for the rest of time.” Kara told him, her tone half-serious, half gallows humor. “I don't care if you die too, you're getting haunted. 

“I'm not sure you can haunt a ghost, but I'll take it.” Grant agreed. He raised one pistol and shot twice into the ceiling, eliciting even more screams. “Everyone stay calm. I'm looking for the man in charge. Anyone know where he is?” Initially there was no response. Kara looked the room over and spotted two men in security guard uniforms crouched behind a desk on the far end of the expansive, marble-floored lobby but they weren't hiding. She saw the glint of metal and fired just over their heads. At this range, there wasn't any chance she'd hit them, given their cover, but that wasn't the point. It did keep their heads down. 

“Everyone on the floor!” Kara barked, going all in. If they were going to do this, they needed to do it right. And they needed it with no civilian casualties. _I'm not adding more sins to the list that I have to make up for._ She shot Grant a look, silently telling him to let her take the lead. “On the floor with your hands on your heads!” She surveyed the room as the dozen or so people besides the security guards obeyed immediately, all of them visibly terrified. 

Grant pointed both of his pistols at the men cowering behind the desk. “Both of you, come around from behind there.” He gestured with the guns. “Hands in the air. One false move and I'll start with your kneecaps.” He started to walk slowly towards the desk, and within a few moments, the security guards, both slightly out of shape and one with a bit of gray in his hair, came around from behind the desk. 

Kara followed him closely, but kept her eyes and ears open, checking the room and the dozen people on the floor every few seconds. 

In one fluid motion, Grant slipped one pistol back into its holster, grabbed the younger of the two guards by the front of his shirt and shoved the other pistol under his chin. “You're a few pounds of pressure away from death. So I would think _very_ carefully before answering my questions. Clear?” 

“Yeah, clear.” the man gabbled out. Kara pressed her shotgun into the other guard's stomach and gestured for him too to drop to the ground. He obeyed quickly. 

“Now,” Grant went on, his voice low and threatening, “How much more security is there in the building? Official _and_ unofficial.” The man started to answer, but Grant cut him off, “and if I think you're lying, you _will_ regret it.” The deadly certainty in Grant's words worried Kara. If Loros Financial was involved in Hydra, these people were just window dressing, cover to make the place look more legitimate. Killing someone working for Hydra was one thing. Killing some poor rent-a-cop with a bad choice of employers? 

“T-Ten more guys.” The guard replied, stammering the words out. “They usually stay on the top floor. We aren't allowed up there. We just man the security desk here to check badges and other basic stuff!” 

“Ten? What are they armed with? What do you know about them?” Grant demanded, pressing his pistol into the man's chin even harder. 

“I don't know, man!” The guard protested. “I don't hang out with them! They're all fucking scary. I don't ask questions!” 

“Probably a good policy for staying alive.” Kara agreed. Flipping her shotgun, she drove the butt into the man's stomach, knocking the air out of him with a loud 'oof' and sending him staggering back as Grant let go of his shirt. Turning to Grant, she added quietly, “Stairs, or elevator?” Not inside the elevators of course... 

“Too much chance they've got something in the elevators. If they've got ten guys protecting this place, there's a reason. That means _more_ security on top of that.” Grant replied, shaking his head. 

“And they're going to have stuff on the stairs.” Kara pointed out, then snarked in a low hiss. “And I don't think we can take the car up fifteen flights.” Yes, they were in a hurry, but good freaking _**god!**_ Grant was a specialist, like her. He knew the value of reconnaissance! Of knowing the lay of the land _before_ you went in. “We can put that under the heading: 'Things to _think_ about before you drive a car into a building'!” 

“We don't have time to delay!” Grant hissed back, “Not arguing here, and we didn't have time to scout this place out first!” 

“We also don't have time to _die_ , Grant!” Kara snapped. “Grab another gun from the car and meet me on the stairs.” She jerked her head towards some of the people cowering on the ground. “I'll deal with these guys.” She could tell Grant could hear the reproach in her voice, but from the expression on his face, she was guessing that he just didn't care. 

Caring about her reproach or not, Grant nodded and went over to the SUV. As he did, Kara looked over the lobby, trying to see if there was a room she could stuff everyone into for now. She saw a door, over in the corner. A bathroom. Kicking one of the guards lightly to get his attention, Kara gestured to the room with her shotgun.  
  


“If you squeezed, could everyone fit in there?” The guard lifted himself up on his elbows just enough to follow her gaze, then nodded slowly, gulping visibly in fear. “Good.” Kara raised her voice. “All right, everyone, stand up – _slowly –_ with your hands on your heads and go into that bathroom.” She gestured again for everyone's benefit. “I'm sure the police will be on their way sooner or later, so as long as you stay in there, you won't be hurt.” 

One of the people started to say something, possibly resist or argue, but the woman who was next to him just grabbed his hand and murmured something, and then he too obeyed. All of them stood – slowly, as ordered – several visibly shaking. With their hands on their heads, they filed into the bathroom, and Kara gestured to the prone rent-a-cops to get in there with them. 

Unfortunately, there was no obvious way to lock it from the outside. _Skye would be pretty useful to have here._ With her powers, she could just shake up the inside of the door or something, or wreck the handle so no one could use it to get out. Force them to break down the door... 

Lacking another option, Kara settled for dragging the chairs from behind the security desk and shoving them against the door, just under the handle. It wouldn't hold for long against a concerted effort to get out, but hopefully the people inside would be too afraid to try it for a while. 

With the civilians on the ground floor out of the way, that left only the stairs. _Let's just hope there's no_ _t_ _a whole bunch of civilians on the top floor either._

**Loros Financial Building, Indianapolis**

**May 8 th, 2019**

Despite Kara's concerns, there hadn't been any defenses on the stairs. Well, not until they reached the Fifteenth floor landing. Or rather, got near it and almost walked into a hail of bullets. 

Ducking around the corner, Kara dropped her shotgun and pulled out a pistol. She nodded to Grant, speaking under her breath in Russian: “Cover me.” 

“When did you learn Russian?” Grant replied in the same language, before sticking his assault rifle around the corner and firing a spray wildly. 

“It _has_ been four years Grant.” Kara pointed out. Half-diving as she moved, Kara went around the corner, firing into the two guards that had been firing indiscriminately. Thanks to Grant's efforts, they were having just as much trouble shooting accurately. Dropping prone, Kara fired another four times, twice at the heads of both men, avoiding the tactical vests they wore. One of her shots sailed by the man as he dodged, but the other clipped his shoulder, forcing him to let out a groan of pain and stagger back a pace.  
  
Her other two bullets were more successful, both of them finding their targets – with two in the head, he dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. The injured man fired at Kara, but she was already on the move, jumping to the side and reaching the top of the landing. She kicked at his legs, knocking them out from under him and grabbing his gun, yanking it from his grasp as he fell.  
  
Grant came around the corner and finished him off another spray of bullets to the chest. “Let's go. We've got eight more of these bastards.” 

Kara nodded, then looked at the gun in her hands. It was... normal. High end, expensive, and illegal for a private citizen to own, largely speaking, but it _was_ normal. 

“This isn't a Hydra gun.” Kara said even as the thought reached her brain. “Hydra makes its weapons in-house, especially these days.” 

“A financial company doesn't have guys armed like this on security unless they have something to hide. They're working _with_ Hydra at the very least.” Grant said confidently. 

“Or we could just be killing a bunch of regular criminals.” _Or even legitimate security for a mostly law abiding company._ Every financial company broke a few laws. It was almost impossible not to. 

“Skye knows what she's doing when it comes to this sort of thing.” Grant insisted. “Hydra never armed its allies with its tech, before. Why would they start now?” 

It wasn't as if Grant didn't have – or at least, think he had – very good reasons for believing it. Eight-five percent was eighty-five percent. And Skye had said they _were_ moving some of Hydra's money, even if it was possible they didn't know it was Hydra's money. 

“Fine.” Kara pressed her ear to the locked door onto the fifteenth floor, then stepped back. “We have company incoming.” Both she and Grant took a few more steps back, standing right on the edge of the fifteenth floor landing and aimed their guns at the door, ready to fire. 

The door flew off its hinges as it was kicked open – Kara and Grant started firing immediately even before the door fell to the ground completely. A small canister flew out towards them – but before it could land on the ground, Grant dove to the side, crouching and catching the smoke grenade. Even as it started to let out its smoke, he'd tossed it back through the doorway, right into the face of one of the three guards. 

_Not bad. He's been keeping himself at the to of his game._ Kara had for the briefest of moments wondered if Grant had gotten a bit rusty in the last four years, but it seemed like she'd been right to dismiss that thought. Lowering her guns again, Kara ran at the guard who had been hit by the smoke grenade – which was now on the floor, filling the whole entryway with its payload. Kara felt a bullet graze her arm and bit her lip until it bled against the pain. 

Tasting blood, Kara grabbed both sides of the guard's head and smashed his face onto her knee, shoving him into his compatriots and making them stagger back as he landed on the ground. Amid the smoke, Kara couldn't tell how much damage she might have done to his face, but she wasn't stopping to check. Striking out at one of the others, she heard Grant come in from the landing and attack the other one.  
  
There was only one conclusion that Kara could draw fighting these guys. They weren't Hydra. Oh, they were good – quality ex-military PMCs, beyond a shadow of a doubt, but they _**weren't**_ Hydra. They weren't good enough for that. They didn't fight like ex-S.H.I.E.L.D., and they weren't trained by ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. 

She got winged a second time by a bullet, this time on her leg, and Kara suspected one of Grant's ribs was a little cracked by the time it was done, but they took down all ten on their way through the fifteenth floor. 

The floor was mostly empty, the majority of the rooms bare and undecorated. There was a guard post where the security cameras could be monitored, and there were ten fairly spare bedrooms, all comparatively small. The guards lived on site or at least they could, it seemed. 

Finally, there was only one room to check, furthest from the stairs – but right next to the elevators. _Go figure._

It was locked, but that didn't matter. One of the many lovely little inventions Fitz had made for S.H.I.E.L.D in recent years was a very small explosive that could be fit into a keyhole of any size and used to blow the lock open, the doorknob off, whatever. Just open the small plastic package, slip it in there, and step back. Thirty seconds later, no more locked door.  
  
“If there's someone in there,” Kara murmured to Grant, “let me do the talking.” Turning back to the door, Kara put both hands on the handle of her gun and kicked it open, stepping in, ready to shoot at the first sign of trouble.  
  
There wasn't any.  
  
The room was an office. Large, decorated with what looked like tastefully expensive modern art – not that Kara knew modern art all that well – and a large, elegant, sturdy desk at the center of the room. Kara's heart sank at the body slumped on the desk, black foam coming out of his mouth. 

“Goddamnit!” Kara kicked the desk, _hard._ Her only reward was a foot that now hurt like a bitch. “Fucking suicide capsule.” At least there was no question that this guy at least was Hydra. Only true believers – or the terrified – used suicide capsules. And that black foam was emblematic of the strange, instant-acting toxin that Hydra 4.0. gave its people. “You were right. This one is Hydra. These days they all have those things – instant acting. Makes that black foam. We've never been able to capture one alive.” 

Grant dropped his gun, seeing the dead body. She saw a flicker of despair in his eyes, but it was gone in an instant. “There's got to be something in this office. There's a reason he had ten expensive mercenaries guarding this floor. Couldn't be just to keep him alive. There's something here or on this floor that's worth guarding.” 

Kara nodded, the adrenaline from the fight fading quickly – and when she felt her leg and shoulder throb painfully, she remembered – well, fully registered anyway – that she'd been shot. She looked over at her shoulder first, and her upper sleeve was stained with blood. The same was true of her pants, but even worse. “Grant, see if you can find any whiskey.” Not a great antiseptic, but it would do in emergencies. 

He looked towards her, probably to ask her what the hell she was thinking in terms of wanting a drink now, but when he registered the bloodstains, he nodded. “I've got a first aid kit in the SUV. But if I find something-” 

“I'll manage until then.” Kara ripped lengths of fabric from the ends of her sleeves and turned them into – very – makeshift bandages for her two injuries. They were both shallow, but bleeding was still bleeding.  
  
Grant started checking the walls, for safes or anything else, and Kara went over to the desk. It was neat, organized. Two pictures – one of the dead man and a pretty blonde woman who looked twenty years younger than him, smiling together, each having an arm around the other's shoulders. The other one had the dead man and two little kids, both boys. _Kids without a father._ The man looked ten years younger in that picture than he did now or in the one with the blonde woman, but still... 

Kara closed her eyes and let out a slow breath. There was nothing she could have done about this – he took his own life. Either because he believed or because he worried about what Hydra would do to him or his family – his kids, his obvious second wife. 

Kara opened her eyes and lifted the man's body off the desk, letting it lie limply in the chair instead. The desk had an empty in and out tray, and no a computer. Kara checked the man's pockets and took out a wallet - complete with more pictures of his wife and kids – and a phone. It was locked, needing some sort of four-number combination to unlock it. _And if I know Hydra, if I try too many times to unlock it, it wipes it._ Or it could be a regular, normal smart phone. Kara slipped it into her pocket and started in on the desk drawers. Mostly just generic office supplies, but there was one that had something or, _had_ had something. It was a metal lined drawer, completely so, and the insides made it pretty clear what had been in there. 

Important documents. The inside was ashes, charred bits of paper here and there. Kara muttered some choice curses in Greek – then saw a largish scrap of intact paper. In the corner, some writing still visible on it. Kara took it very carefully in her hand and lifted it out of the drawer. It was only by pure chance it had survived – by the sheer amount of ash in the drawer, it was pretty clear that quite a bit of paperwork had been inside. Gently, Kara brushed ash off of the page.  
  
Most of it was half of words, making it incomprehensible and most of the rest was too damaged. But there were some words she could pick out:  
  
'target', 'no resistance', 'terminate witnesses' and then... an address. _Grant's_ address. 

  
“Grant.” She called him over and showed him the paper. His eyes fell on the address immediately. Grant sucked in a sharp breath, then nodded. “Anything else?”  
  
“I have his phone. I don't know what the unlock code is. Could be rigged to wipe itself if I tried and failed too many times, could not.” 

“I haven't found anything. There's nothing in the walls.” He picked up his dropped gun, then looked back at her. “Step back.” He pointed his gun at the floor, and Kara stepped back, quickly realizing what he was doing. He pressed the trigger all the way down, bullets digging into the floor as he moved the gun all around – and then, near the wall, but still on the floor, the bullets made the sound of metal on metal. Grant immediately dropped his gun and went over to it. Pulling a knife from inside his jacket sleeve, Grant started cutting at the carpet, peeling it back and revealing a floor safe – with a regular combination lock. 

“You wanna take this?” Grant asked, gesturing to the lock. They heard the sound of cop cars coming towards the building, fifteen feet below. _That... was slow._

  
“We don't have much time, but yeah.” Kara lay on the floor and pressed her ear to the safe, putting her hand on the dial. Ideally, she'd have better equipment for this, but so much for that. “Find us a way out while I'm at this.” 

“I think I might be able to help with that.” Kara looked up at the same time Grant turned around at the familiar voice. Sure enough, Skye was standing in the hall, wearing tactical gear, an ICER in a holster on her belt. 

“Skye.” Grant said softly, looking at her. Kara could see it, in his face. And Skye was looking at him... but the sparks that jumped between their eyes ended after a few second. 

“You didn't think I was going to just sit there and do nothing while an innocent little girl was in Hydra's hands, did you?” 


	12. Falling Apart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** Own AoS, I do not.  
>  Thanks to colormeblue/Riley Holden for her beta-reading services.
> 
> **Author's Note:** This fic was started and planned out before S3 aired, before Coulson turned into the barely recognizable version of himself he is now. S3 Coulson doesn't exist in this fic, for all intents and purposes.

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 12: Falling Apart 

**Loros Financial Building, Indianapolis  
May 8 th, 2019 **

Straightening up a little, Kara resisted the urge to glare at Skye. She never would have expected the other woman to show up... but at the same time, perhaps she should have. _I got her involved when I had her do that hacking._ Hell, she'd even played on the very fact that she knew Skye would help if an innocent little girl was in Hydra's hands. 

But she would never have believed that Coulson would let her physically come and help. And however much Skye wouldn't want to leave an innocent girl in Hydra's hands, Skye was hardly ever going to be okay with teaming up with Grant. 

“Did Coulson send you?” Grant demanded, his entire body tensing up. 

“No, he didn't.” Skye shook her head, “But he didn't stop me when I grabbed a quinjet and a pilot and had them take me to this building. They dropped me off on the roof, and here I am.” Skye took a small step forward and looked at Grant pointedly. “Ward, I don't especially trust you, and I definitely don't like you, but I'm not going to just stand here and do nothing while Hydra holds a little girl prisoner. Especially not one with powers.” The rest of the sentence: 'given what they'd do to her' didn't need to be stated openly.  
  
Grant was silent for a second, then slowly inhaling he nodded. “I won't turn down your help. Not now.”  
“Good.” Skye nodded, then turned to Kara, raising an eyebrow.  
  
“This is Grant's show. As long as you're here to help save Rachel, I'm not going to object.” Kara confirmed. “That quinjet of yours wouldn't happen to still be on the roof, would it?”  
  
“No. But I did bring three parachutes with me. They're waiting on the roof and we can land on the other side of the building while the cops are on the entrance side.” It was hardly the worst escape plan in the world. It would mean abandoning all their stuff in the car though... including the burner phones and the cash. And the weapons. 

“There're too many things in the car in the lobby. We can't just abandon all of it.” Kara interrupted. “The weapons, the burner phones-” 

“We can get more of both.” Grant interrupted. “I have other go-bags with cash and phones, ready to go.”  
  
“I suppose I don't want to know where you got the cash.” Skye muttered. 

“Most of them pre-date the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Grant countered. “Kara, the safe.” 

“Give me a minute.” Kara raised a hand and lowered her ear to the safe. For a Hydra front, the safe was surprisingly simple to crack. It wasn't especially high-quality or high-tech, which was good because she didn't have _any_ safecracking equipment on her. A few turns of the dial though, and the last tumbler fell into place. 

Kara pulled back up, grabbed the handle and twisted.  
  
Skye and Grant both came over and looked inside the safe once it was opened. 

  
“A safe that big and all he's keeping in it is a tablet? One that's...” Skye reached out and took it, “three years out of date? What the hell is on this thing?” 

“We'll find out later. The roof?” Grant said tersely. 

“The roof.” Skye agreed. She tucked the tablet under one arm and they were out of the office. 

**Motel Room, Indianapolis**

****May 8 th, 2019  
  
They'd landed on the other-side of the Loros building safely, thanks to Skye's parachutes, and then jacked another car. It wasn't like they had many options. They'd stayed on the move, picking up Grant's other go-bag from a bus station locker – a reliable, if cliched option – and had now rented a pair of conjoined rooms in a motel. 

“I've got a hack running on the phone. It's beaten Hydra encryptions before but it takes time.” Skye explained. “This tablet,” She gestured to the tablet, sitting on the desk in the room. Skye was seated at the desk, and Grant was standing on the other side of the room, arms crossed. Kara was sitting on one of the beds in the apartment, wanting to keep her weight off her leg. The need to evade the cops and keep moving had meant it had taken longer than she needed to tend to the injury on her leg. It had been superficial, yes, but it was still a lot more blood loss than she'd have liked, and left uncleaned and unbandaged for longer than was desirable. Better safe than sorry. 

Skye let out a sigh, “this tablet is a whole different story. But before we get into that, I need some answers from you, Ward.” 

“We don't have time for me to give you answers, Skye. My daughter-”  
  
“Your daughter has been captured by Hydra, yes, I know! But I'm going to help you find her, I need to know details: she's powered, I get that, but what else? How, why? Do you have any idea who would be behind it?” 

“Skye, if I knew, I wouldn't be standing in this hotel room arguing with you, I'd be wherever they were, _rescuing my daughter!_ ” Grant uncrossed his arms, raising his voice to nearly shouting levels. 

“Grant, this is a _public_ motel. The last thing we need is you raising your voice.” Kara interrupted. Then she looked over to Skye, keeping her voice soft. The last thing she wanted was to play peacemaker between the two of them, but it seemed likely she was going to have to. And, at some point, she suspected Grant would have to play peacemaker between her and Skye. 

Kara didn't like Skye, Skye didn't like her, and then there was the whole complicated ball of crazy between Skye and Grant. But finding and rescuing Rachel was the priority. She was willing to work with Skye to make sure that happened. 

“Rachel's parents were Arthur and Rebecca Haselrun. Yes, the ones who were on the Aurora Initiative. From what Grant's told me, they _made_ Rachel powered. They perfected their process, and for whatever reason, didn't turn their daughter over to Hydra when they were supposed to. They were killed by Hydra.” Kara summarized what Grant had told her. 

“And how did Ward get involved? How did you get Rachel?” She looked to Grant as she asked the question, but Kara was the one who kept going. 

“After the mission in the Arctic, Grant started taking down a few Hydra bases he knew of. Small safehouses, that sort of thing. At one of them, he found the order to kill the Haslruns. He went there to get rid of the kill-team and found Rachel there, still alive, but her parents dead.” 

“That's enough of memory lane for now.” Grant cut in, taking a step forward. “What about the tablet?” Kara didn't blame Grant for not wanting Skye to hear all the details, especially not how Skye telling him what she'd been through as an orphan was part of the reason he'd kept Rachel. 

Kara wouldn't have told her that detail either, but they didn't have time to recap the last four years, now did they? 

“Nothing about the tablet.” Skye said flatly. 

“You just said the tablet was a different-” Kara started, but Skye interrupted, shaking her head. 

“Yeah it is a different story, and that story is nothing. The tablet is an ordinary tablet.” Skye shook her head, “that guy's phone definitely has Hydra encryption software on it. But this... there's absolutely nothing special about it.” 

“Nobody would put an ordinary tablet in a safe, Skye.” Grant said, “So obviously there's something to it.” 

“Well, duh, Ward.” Skye actually rolled her eyes as she said that. “But that doesn't mean I have the slightest clue what's on it. There's no password protected files, no hidden programs... the browser history is pretty basic. And impossible.” Skye added, looking back to the tablet. 

“What do you mean, impossible?” How could a browser history be 'impossible'? Kara felt her forehead start to throb. 

“It shows that the browser was used yesterday morning.” That alone was... there was no way that carpet was less than a day old. Or patched. It had been there for a while. And there was no way to just peel a bit back from the floor safe... “And according to the tablet's systems, this thing hasn't been turned on for months before today.” 

“You're right. That does sound impossible.” Kara shook her head, rubbing at her left temple gently. “But what exactly does that mean?” 

“I'm guessing there's some sort of program on this tablet that generated a false browser history the second that I turned it on. The websites are pretty generic: a couple financial news websites, a pretty vanilla softcore porn website, online poker... nothing special. Whatever it is that makes this tablet important, it's hidden in why it has a browser history it shouldn't. But I have no idea what's behind it.” 

Grant closed his eyes, crossing his arms in front of his chest again. Kara could see how hard he was fighting to keep it together. She'd only ever seen Grant on the verge of total collapse once before, a few days after she'd helped him survive that shooting in San Juan. It was subtle, but the signs were there. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a look on Skye's face. 

  
Concern. That was the only word for it. Skye could tell the same thing – Grant was going to fall apart, and soon, if they didn't find Rachel. Maybe not tonight, maybe not tomorrow. But soon. 

“I'm going to check the outside of the hotel. Make sure we weren't followed.” Grant said after a moment, opening his eyes. He held up his burner phone. “Call me if you get something while I'm out there.” 

Kara bit her lip, about to tell him to stop, not go out. But... no. Grant couldn't do anything about the tablet or the phone. In the search for his own daughter, at least at this moment, he was completely useless. And Grant would collapse even faster if he felt like he was useless on this one. 

“I will.” Kara nodded after a moment. Grant nodded back and turned, making his way for the door. It closed under its own momentum a few seconds later, the door connecting with the frame heavily and loudly. 

Kara sat there on the bed in silence for a long moment, not really thinking of anything in particular as she stared at the wall. 

“I wish I could give him better news.” Skye said softly. “It's... strange, seeing him like that.” The former hacktivist added, seemingly thinking out loud as much as she was talking to Kara. 

“Upset?” Kara looked over to Skye, wondering just what it was that had Skye concerned. Was it genuine concern for Grant, or concern over what Grant might do if he collapsed? Or just concern about how it might inhibit the search for Rachel? 

“He's a hell of a lot more than upset. You know it and I know it. He's... on the verge. Right at the edge. Pick your metaphor. If I don't find a lead on his daughter soon, he-” Skye trailed off. 

“He's going to fall apart.” Kara finished. “I know. I've only seen it happen once before.” Grant wasn't an emotionless automaton – but he was never the most expressive around people. Except Rachel, it seemed – she'd been good for him, in that sense. But when he'd... broken, more or less, after San Juan... 

  
He'd been more than expressive. He'd lost all control, emotional and otherwise. He'd been reckless... she'd had to cuff him to that safehouse bed to make sure he didn't get out and strain himself after she'd dug Skye's bullets out of his back. He'd kept trying to do what he physically couldn't do, without any concern for the damage it would do to him. 

No – more than that. It almost seemed as if he was trying to injure himself personally. There was recklessness and then there was... that. It was a level of recklessness that she'd never seen in him again. Once she got to know him better, Kara realized that Grant was a much more deliberate man than he'd been in those few days. 

If Grant fell apart now... _He can't. There's too much at stake for him to go off half-cocked, to lose his control._ The last four years seemed to have stabilized him, but... Grant didn't do well without his emotions under control. 

“So have I.” Skye agreed slowly. “Did you know I used to call him 'Robot' when I first joined the team?” Despite the gravity of their circumstances, Kara saw the ghost of a small smile play across Skye's features for a moment. 

“Somehow, he never got around to telling me that story.” Kara observed. 

“He hated it. Which is half the reason I kept using it, at first. I liked getting under his skin – he made this face, like he'd just bitten into a lemon, when you annoyed him.” The smile was back again, for just a moment. “I learned pretty quickly he was a lot more than just this... emotionally dead robot-agent, but... after I first learned about... Hydra, and Garrett and...” she trailed off, and Kara nodded. She knew what Skye was getting at. This part of the story she had heard, from both sides now. 

“I started thinking that it was all an act, that he really was emotionless, that he - didn't, _couldn't_ feel. How else could he do all the things he did? I've had years to think about it though, and this just confirms it: Ward's problem isn't that he doesn't feel enough or at all. It's that he feels too much.” 

“That would be it.” Kara agreed. She hadn't expected an insight like that from Skye. But it was the truth, even if Kara hadn't phrased it quite like that. “He doesn't have anything he can do, until we have a lead. He's got no target to go for, no leads to pursue. Any leads we might have are in that phone and that tablet.” Kara gestured to the two electronic devices on the table. “He hates feeling useless.” 

“He hates feeling powerless.” Skye corrected her, voice soft. “It was after I tried to get away from him and failed, when he was trying to take me to Garrett. He was... he was desperate. Desperate to get me to tell him how to get the intel Garrett needed.” Skye took a breath. “I didn't get it then – I was too busy just... labeling him an evil Nazi in my head. To his face.” Kara raised an eyebrow and looked at her pointedly. 

Skye waved a hand. “Yeah, I know, Hydra isn't – never was – Nazi. Not really. I was just angry then and I didn't know any better anyway. I realize now that he was... trying to protect me.” She shook her head again, “It doesn't matter now.” 

Kara understood what Skye was saying, she thought. From everything he'd said about Garrett, torture would have been on the top of the man's list of ways to get information. But if Skye had just told Grant... then she wouldn't have had to be hurt. That sounded like Grant. 

“He gets... erratic, when he falls apart.” Kara said slowly. “I've only seen it happen the once. I don't want to see it again. Rachel can't afford for it to happen again, you know.” Taking a deep breath, Kara stood up and walked over towards Skye, extending a hand to the other woman slowly.  
  
“Look. I don't like you. Not really. And you don't like me, right?” 

“I don't hate you.” Skye replied, but nodded slowly, “But I can't say I'm really fond of you either.” 

“I'm touched.” Kara commented. “But if we're going to help Grant find Rachel, then we're going to have to be able to work together. So... peace?” 

Skye nodded and without apparent second thought, took Kara's extended hand and shook it. “Peace. I'm here to help that little girl. Even back when I really hated him, I would never have wished this on Ward. And certainly not on that girl.” She let go of Kara's hand and turned back to the smart phone. “I'm going to see if I can't speed up the hack on the phone. I'm still drawing a blank on the tablet.” 

Kara was about to say something, but before she could, her burner rang. Only Grant and Skye had the number, and Skye was right here. Snatching it from her pocket, Kara had it open and at her ear in a heartbeat. “Grant-”  
  
“Hydra's here. Two unmarked black SUVs in the parking lot. They've got people in tactical gear stepping out now. Call it – ten more guys. Actual Hydra this time, not just PMCs. Have Skye grab the phone and the tablet and meet up in the rear parking lot. We're going to take one of them alive this time.” 


	13. Take One Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I might have had Brett Dalton dress up in those awesome outfits they've been putting Hive in, but it would be Grant Ward wearing them, not some weird alien parasite-god thing. Seriously, 3x08 is when AoS jumped the shark from badly written-ish with some toxic narratives to... wtf are we even watching? Is Hive really the comics character Ward was going to be that we were all promised?
> 
> Thanks to Riley Holden/Colormeblue for beta-reading.

Enough Good Left After All

By Alkeni

Chapter 13: Take One Alive

**Motel Room, Indianapolis**

**May 8 th, 2019**

“We'll meet you there.” Kara snapped the phone closed, turning to Skye as she dropped the phone back into her pocket. “Grab the phone and the tablet. Hydra's here.”  
  
“What? How the hell did they find us?” Despite her protestations, Skye grabbed both devices and dropped them into a bag before drawing her ICER. “So what's the plan? What are we up against?”  
  
Kara picked up her pistol. “Grant wants us to meet him in the rear parking lot. Two unmarked SUVs, at least ten Hydra footsoldiers, complete with tactical gear.”  
  
“Well, then we should probably get ours on too. Grab Ward's vest.” Skye pointed out, gesturing to the tactical vest Grant left behind. Kara nodded, slipped her own on quickly and then grabbed Grant's.

  
“They're probably going for the lobby, to try and figure out what room we're in.” They'd checked in under one of Grant's back-up identities which meant Hydra would be at least flying a little blind figuring out where they were. “We're taking one alive.”  
  
“Just one?” Skye raised an eyebrow.

  
“Do you have a problem with that?”As fars as Kara knew, Skye wasn't exactly squeamish about killing Hydra, but she had chosen to bring an ICER. Kara hadn't worked alongside Skye enough to know for sure what her general policy in the field was.  
  
“They're Hydra. As long as we kill them while they're fighting us, that's just part of the job.” Skye said, going towards the door, Kara close behind her. “But if you or Ward are planning on killing any that this ICER takes out... I will have a problem with it.”  
  
“Grant's on the warpath. He's going to want blood.” Kara warned. She nodded, and Skye opened the door, going out into the second floor hallway, but there was no one waiting for them. When they reached the bottom of the stairs on the first floor, they heard the sounds of gunfire from the direction of the lobby. Gunfire and screams. Kara went to the door out of the stairwell and opened it a crack, peeking through it. No one.  
  
Moments later, they were in the rear parking lot, hearing no more gunfire, but additional screams and alarms starting to go off inside the building.  
  
“I don't know what the response time for the cops will be, but we should move, now.” Grant said, coming around from behind. “They're in force out front – six went inside, two stayed to guard the doors, two to guard their cars. I think this one is the leader.” Grant showed them his phone – he'd taken a picture of a bald man of Asian-extraction in full tactical gear – minus a helmet. “He was barking the orders, anyway. If anyone knows where Rachel is, it'll be him. He's the one we're taking alive.”

Kara nodded, and handed Grant his vest, while he put it on, Skye raised the objection she voiced earlier, “I'm not here for murder, Ward. If my ICER takes one or more of them out, I'm not going to just let you kill them. I will ice you too.”

Kara could see a flash of fury in Grant's eyes, but it was gone in a moment. With something to do – something he _could_ do - his expression and demeanor were professional, focused on the mission. There was fortunately no risk of him being about to fall apart right now. _Thank god._

Rather than say anything about that, he changed the topic. “I'll go around the left and go for the two at the doors,” he gestured as he spoke. “You two go around the right and take out the two at the cars.”

“We should do it silently, if we can get at them without needing our guns.” Kara added. Unfortunately, Grant hadn't had any silencers in the storage locker – the one's he'd had had been left behind in the SUV on the ground floor of the Loros Building.

“Agreed.” Grant said, “Ready?”

“Ready.” Kara and Skye both confirmed. Grant nodded and turned around, going toward the left side of the building. Kara turned to Skye.  
  
“I'll go first. You cover me.” She told the hacker. Skye shook her head.  
  
“You’re injured. I’ll go first,” Skye countered.

“I’ve dealt with worse, Skye,” Kara insisted.

“Granted,” Skye replied with a grin. Kara rolled her eyes at the attempted pun but couldn’t help smiling as well.  
  
Skye moved ahead, Kara close behind her. In moments, they were at the front parking lot and spied the black, unmarked SUVs Grant mentioned. Two men in full tactical gear holding impressive and advanced looking assault rifles stood by each SUV.

Kara gestured to Skye that she'd the closer one. Skye nodded, pointing towards some cars that would give them cover. Slowly, carefully, the two of them got into position.

“I don't think we're going to be able do to quietly. Not at this-” Skye whispered, but before she could finish, the sound of gunshots rang out from the front door. So much for a stealthy approach. Kara fired at one of the guards – but both were already diving for cover, so she only managed to wing him.

Skye fired twice, but didn't connect. A hail of bullets pierced through the cars around them,. As far as Kara could tell, it was only by sheer chance that not a single ricochet got them. Skye closed her eyes for a moment.  
  
“Fuck it. Kara, cover me.” Lowering her ICER, Skye stood up and held out her empty hand. Kara dutifully started shooting at the Hydra soldiers, but a spray of bullets still nearly hit Skye, missing only because she'd dropped and rolled to the side before standing up again at just the right second.  
  
Kara dropped back to reload, but she'd given Skye the time she needed. Feeling the ground and the air around her starting to shake, Kara heard glass breaking, and then the sound of the clips in the Hydra soldier's guns drop out of their weapons onto the ground. She immediately rose to her feet, firing at the two prone Hydra goons.

  
They'd fallen over under the force of Skye's efforts, and Kara put three bullets into the torso of one. Skye shot the other with her ICER before Kara could shoot him as well.  
  
“That's that then.”

“Not quite. I don't want to make it easy for any of them to get away.” Skye closed her eyes again and aimed at one of their SUVs. The force of the waves sent it flying into the front end of the other one, smashing the hood in and leaving the first one half-atop the second. “Now that's that. Ward's probably got the doors, and Hydra's got hostages.”

**Just Outside the Lobby, Motel, Indianapolis**

**May 8 th, 2019**

Sure enough, the six remaining Hydra goons, had hostages in the lobby.

  
“Daniel Martel. Or should I say Grant Ward?” The bald Asian man said, stepping forward, seemingly unconcerned by the trio of guns pointed at him. “You've caused a lot of problems for Hydra.”  
  
“Glad to hear it.” Grant replied coldly. “But I'm not in the mood for small talk. So unless you're going to tell me where my daughter is-”

“The Haselrun's project is safely secured.” The man replied with an insufferably smug smirk on his face. “And nowhere you'll ever find it.”  
  
“Call Rachel an 'it' again and we'll see how fast your men can shoot those hostages before I drop them – after a bullet goes through your brain.” Grant all but snarled. Kara tensed, not doubting Grant for a second. But -

She wasn't going to be party to just tossing the seven hostages away like that. Sometimes a cost had to be born for the mission but that _had_ to be the last resort. They weren't there yet.

  
“I'm sure you'd be all too willing to trade the hostages for your 'daughter', Mr. Ward, but I don't think your friends behind you would be very interested in that. Agent Skye, for example. Tell me, how long did it take you to forgive yourself for those civilian casualties in Vienna last year, my dear?” He laughed, “You S.H.I.E.L.D. types and your morality. Really gets in the way of getting things done.”  
  
“Keep talking, jackass.” Skye muttered, then raised her voice: “Sooner or later the cops are going to be here in force. That's gonna really restrict your options.”  
  
“Very true.” The man agreed. “But this won't take long. Be assured, Mr. Ward, I wasn't referring to your little antics at Loros Financial. The problems you caused have now been corrected. The project is in our custody again. Your life, Mr. Ward, is now very short.”

“Mind telling me how you found us?” Kara asked, keeping her voice calm. They didn't need an escalation.

“Yes, because I thought I'd take this chance to let you all know about Hydra secrets.” He replied. “Stand down, or I start killing hostages.”  
  
“We stand down, you kill us.” Skye pointed out, not lowering her gun.

“Not you, Agent Skye. My superiors would love to have you captured alive. I might even get a promotion if I bring you in.”  
  
“If you know that your bosses want me alive, then you have to know why.” Out of the corner of her eye, Kara saw Skye hold one hand behind herself, three fingers raised. Kara had no idea what Skye was planning, but she got ready, bracing herself to move quickly.

“Oh yes. But don't worry. We have ways to make sure your little powers don't cause us any problems in transport.” The man was so sure he had all the cards.

“They're not little.” Skye dropped her last finger and then flung her arm out towards the ceiling, the room around them shaking. Glass broke, the ceiling cracked a little – and then the sprinkler system... Skye must have broken the pipes, because water started spurting, drenching everything and throwing the Hydra soldiers off their game for just a few seconds.  
  
Which was all Kara needed to get moving. Propelling herself forward, she drove her fist into the leader's face twice, following up with a quick uppercut that sent him staggering back.  
  


She heard Grant and Skye moving behind her, and bullets starting to fly towards them from nearly all directions Kara knocked her target to the ground with a sweeping kick, grabbing his gun and tossing it aside. It was too imprecise to use in these circumstances. Diving behind a desk, Kara was reminded just why she really shouldn't be fighting right now by the dull throb in her leg and arm, but she ignored the pain.Peering through the downpour, which with the sprinklers was making a sort of fine mist, Kara fired at one of the Hydra goons. The bullet hit him in the shoulder and he half-fell back.  
  
Skye was shooting far less discriminately, taking advantage of her ICERs nonlethal status to shoot everything that was moving so the civilians no longer had the potential to walk into the line of fire.  
  
Kara watched Grant charge a pair of Hydra soldiers, pulling a knife out of his jacket and slicing at one of them. He was too close for them to fire their weapons and he wasn't letting them move. But out of the corner of her eye, Kara saw the leader struggle to his knees and pull out a pistol, aiming it at Grant.

  
“Grant!” Kara shouted to be heard over the water, already vaulting over the desk.  
  
Grant heard her shout, half-turning away from the foot-soldiers just as the leader fired his pistol – right at where Grant had been a second before, and where one of the two Hydra goons was now. The bullet didn't get past the layers of ballistic mesh in his tactical gear, but at least Grant was uninjured. Kara was on the Asian man before he could fire again, wrenching the gun from his hand hard enough to break his trigger finger. Crouching down behind him, Kara put her arm around his neck, pushing down on his windpipe. He struggled, throwing his arms back against her, but Kara grabbed his broken finger, squeezing it _hard._

In seconds, he'd passed out. They'd deal with him later.

With their prisoner out of the way, Kara refocused on the fighting. There were three Hydra soldiers still standing. Skye was trading shots with one, and Grant was still fighting the other two. Make that one.

Even as Kara raised her pistol to shoot at Skye's target, she saw Grant shove his knife into the unprotected throat of one of his opponents, having no reaction to the blood spurting all over his hand. Squeezing off a shot, Kara cursed as her own target ducked just in time – and then fired back with a spray of bullets in her general direction. Diving to the right, Kara bit right through her lip when she landed on _just_ the wrong part of her injured leg. Tasting blood, Kara fired back again and then out of the corner of her eye, saw a body.  
  
Not a Hydra body. It was the body of the young woman who had been behind the desk earlier, who had handed them their room keys not three hours before. Pretty, redheaded, upbeat... Kara's throat tightened just a little when she saw the engagement ring on the woman's hand.  
  
She'd wanted to avoid civilian deaths, but even knowing that at least one of them was likely to die didn't make it any easier. It was going to be one more mark against her conscience, one more cosmic wrong she'd have to make up for as best she could.

And yet, if that young, woman had been wearing tactical gear and saying 'Hail Hydra' instead of a blue vest and 'Thank you for staying with us,' Kara would have had no problem with her death, even though she was engaged and had a whole life ahead of her. Just like that guy at the Loros building, who had kids.  
  
_Life sucks, any way you look at it._ Sure, that guy had made his choices, just like any Hydra soldier she killed. But that didn't make them any less human. It was something she had to forget too much to do this job.  
  
Kara shook her head, forcing the thought to the back of her mind and her eyes away from the dead woman. The middle of a firefight was _not_ the place for those thoughts.

**Parking Garage, Indianapolis  
May 8 th, 2019**

Once again, they'd had to move quickly. They'd loaded the unconscious Hydra leader into the trunk of the less damaged of the SUVs, grabbed the keys off a body and headed for a mostly empty parking garage.  
  
Grant had turned the heater on as high as it would go, but all three of them were still soaked. While they'd been distracted by getting out of the way of the police, who were just minutes away from the motel when they'd left it, no one had talked. But now that they were about to wake up their captive, and Skye and Grant couldn't just shut up and focus on getting shit done for _five_ seconds.  
  
“I'm not going to let you torture him, Grant.” Skye ground out, her hands balled into fists.

“And I'm not going to let you _stop_ me, Skye!” Grant shot back, hissing the words out, looking like he was ready to strangle her, or at the very least grab her shoulders and shake her _very_ hard. “I'm going to do what it takes to save my daughter, and if that means torturing this bastard, I will. We don't have time to just shove him into a windowless cell or a few months and then tell him to run faster!” Kara watched Skye flinch, an unreadable expression passing across her face for a second before Skye returned to her previous anger, clearly using it as a shield.  
  
“Innocent people are dead already, Grant. Two of those hostages died, and now you want to add torture to the list? I mean, it's not like you have any morals, but -” Grant stiffened, his mouth narrowing to a thin line. It was more of a reaction than Grant usually had when he was in mission mode.

“Skye.” Kara said, stepping towards the two of the, doing her best to keep her tone level. “You want to reconsider what you're saying, right now.” Then she looked over to Grant, “And whatever you're about to say, think about it again, and then don't say it.” She looked from one to the other of them, then: “We don't have time for you to argue about this.” She took a breath, then looked at Skye, “We don't have time to just ask politely. This guy knew what he was signing up for. It doesn't make torturing him right, but if that' what we have to do, I'm not going to lose a lot of sleep over it.”

She held up a hand before Skye could object, “I _am_ going to lose sleep over those hostages dying, Skye. But we don't have time to focus on them. The longer they have Rachel, the more danger she's in.”

“If you think I'm indifferent to those deaths, I'm not, Skye.” Grant told her. “Just because I'm not going to put their lives over the life of my daughter doesn't mean I wanted them to die, or that their deaths don't bother me. It just makes me human. Even when I was working for Garrett, I didn't like collateral damage. You _know_ that.”

“'Collateral damage'?” Kara could hear the air quotes around the two words leaving Skye's lips. “Is that what we're calling the deaths of innocent-” Before she could finish her sentence, there was the sound of something making a loud 'ping' sound from inside the SUV.  
  
“That would be my hacking program being done with the phone.” Skye said, changing topic entirely fast enough to give Kara whiplash. She opened the backseat of the SUV and took the phone out, running her thumb over the screen. “Most of his calls are from his wife, looks like.... he plays a lot of Angry Birds 3 and Candy Crush 2. Aaaand here we go.” Skye suddenly said. “He got a text from a Chicago area code. Not in of itself strange, except that it has your address, Ward, plus 'asset recovered for transport to clearinghouse,” Kara watched Skye tap the screen some more and Grant tense up at the reference of his daughter as the 'asset'.

“Looks like... there are more deleted texts from this number and more than a few calls from another Chicago area-code number.” Skye went on. “I can't recover them, but I'll bet this guy can tell us what the clearinghouse is.”

“Transit station of some kind.” Grant replied. “Hydra compartmentalizes its safehouses and bases, but they use clearinghouses to get messages and people from cell to cell. No else one knows where any of the others cells that route through it are, but they know about it.” Grant inhaled sharply. “So they must have handed Rachel off.”

“Which means we have even less time to get moving if we want to figure out where she is.” Kara replied. She snatched the phone away from Skye's hands, calling the number of the phone that had sent the texts. In seconds, their unconscious Hydra operative's pocket started to buzz lightly. Reaching into it, Kara took out the inside. “Looks like he's the guy who took Rachel too.”

Unbidden, the image of dead body of the teenage girl with the blue hair that had been keeping an eye on Rachel while they'd met with Coulson came to mind. Another innocent person caught up in this shit, guilty of nothing more than wanting a little pocket change.

Kara looked to Grant. “Let me handle him first. If he doesn't talk, Skye and I take a hike, and leave him with you.” Skye opened her mouth to protest, but closed it when Kara shot her a glare. Somehow, though, Kara suspected that getting Skye to take a hike would be much easier said than done.

_So let's just hope we can trip him up and quickly._ If this guy was a true believer, torture probably wasn't going to work. She drew her hand back to slap him awake, then turned back to Skye and Grant, another thought occurring to her: “You two did check him for one of those suicide caplets, right?”

“He had one, but it's out, yeah.” Skye answered.  
  


“Good. Then this might actually work.” Kara drew her hand back and slapped his face, _hard_. “Alright, shit for brains! Time to wake up.” She slapped him again, even harder. With a jolt, the man startled awake, his eyes opening. Good. Kara gave her nastiest, most cruel smirk, the kind of thing she usually only went for when she was deep undercover in criminal cartels, and then took a breath, closing her eyes and switching off her mask.  
  
If they had anything resembling more time, if it was anyone other than a little child they were trying to rescue, Kara wouldn't do it. She almost never turned off the mask, but...

They didn't have time. And given how badly it had healed, her real face, was intimidating to a lot of people.

“So.” Kara held up the phone Skye had just hacked, and then his own. “Looks to me like you were the one who kidnapped Rachel. And then you took her to your Chicago clearinghouse. So, I just have a couple of questions before I turn you over to Grant here while Agent Skye and I take a hike.”

“You're bluffing,” The man replied with a snarl. “And I won't tell you anything.” He opened his mouth and bit down. Hard. Nothing happened.

“Oh, you're looking for the caplet? Yeah, we took that out. See, I don't need to know where your clearinghouse is. We have your phone. And since you're the one to grab Rachel, you were probably there. Which means Agent Skye can just hack your phone and find it in your GPS.” Kara had no idea if Skye could actually do that, but that really wasn't important. “So the only real question I have is whether we keep you alive after Grant's done having some stress-relief on you. Or if we let you go and let Hydra think you sold us out.”

For a split second, she saw the terror in his eyes, even as he regained control of himself, adopting a blank expression.

“And as for bluffing about letting Grant torture you... well, no I wouldn't be very happy about it, but I won't be losing any sleep over it either. Especially since you killed a teenage girl and an entire family as part of your effort to kidnap Rachel. Tell me, was it _you_ who got to pull the trigger on the babysitter?” His eye twitched. “Thought so. So I'm going to have to let you go, I think, when we're done here.” And once again he was clearly terrified for just a second. Hydra must really have some creative punishments for people who didn't use the suicide caplets.

“The only thing that's going to convince me to say... I dunno... call Director Coulson and have him pick you up and have him protect you from Hydra is for you to tell me everything you know about the clearinghouse itself. Not the location, I'm talking size, guards, other defenses, how many entrances. You know, the stuff that will actually help us.” She leaned in close, getting into his face, forcing him to look at her scars by grabbing his chin and forcing his head up. “So, start talking, asshole.”


	14. The Safehouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** I don't own AoS. Moving On.   
>    
>  Thanks to Riley Holden/Colormeblue for beta-reading 

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 14: The Safehouse 

**Hydra Safehouse, Chicago**

**May 9 th, 2019**

The drive to Chicago had afforded Kara time to catch a very quick nap, with Ward driving right through the night. The sun still wasn't even up. 

“When we're done with this safehouse, then you're going to sleep, Grant, even if I have to force-feed you sleeping pills.” Kara said as they parked the car a block from the safehouse.   
  
The Hydra operative had spilled so many things: the basic layout of the safehouse, (actually the top two penthouse floors of an apartment building), the security codes to access it, the number and armaments of guards – three, as more would be too conspicuous – and more. By the time Kara revealed that they didn't actually have the safehouse's location (and that Skye couldn't just hack it out of his phone), the guy had realized he'd already given enough data for Hydra to kill him on principle, even assuming they didn't just kill him for failing and getting captured in the first place. 

They'd left him tied up, thoroughly ICE'd and in a storage closet, complete with a tracker so Coulson could pick the guy up. And sure enough, by the time they'd gotten halfway to Chicago, Skye had gotten a text from Coulson saying they had the guy and would forward any other useful intel they got from him. 

“I'll sleep when we've found Rachel.” Grant replied firmly. He started to get up, his hand on the latch to release the door, but Kara pressed a hand to his chest and forced him back down.   
  
“No, Grant, you'll rest when we're done with the safehouse. You're no good to Rachel collapsed into an exhausted wreck, and that's exactly where you're headed if you don't stop.” Kara held a finger under his nose. “I mean it. I'll sit on you if that's what I have to do.” 

“I can always just ICE you if that's what it takes.” Skye offered from the back seat. 

Kara nodded, “I can go with that too.” 

“We don't really have time to have this-” Grant protested, but then after a look at their faces, he nodded. “Fine.” Kara could tell that Grant wasn't being entirely sincere in his concession, but she could worry about that when the time came. 

“Good. Now let's go.” Kara grabbed her pistol and pushed a clip into it, locking it in place.   
  
Careful to stay in the shadows, the three of them reached the apartment building without incident. From there, it was an easy matter for Skye to hack the elevator's card-reader that let them take it up to the penthouses. 

**Hydra Safehouse, Chicago**

**May 9 th, 2019**

Unfortunately, the three guards here fought to the death. When Skye had shot one of them with her ICER, one of the others shot the fallen man in the head, presumably recognizing the slightly blue pattern around the wound. And rather than risk being ICED himself, the last man had just bitten down on his suicide capsule once he'd been cornered and left unable to escape, even through a window.   
  
The fight had absolutely trashed the safehouse, - the walls and furniture were filled with bullet holes, and the coffee table was reduced to splinters are Grant had knocked one guard down onto it. 

But there was a bright spot.   
  
“Okay, so we can't interrogate them. But on the plus side, it doesn't look like they were able to wipe the computers or trash them.” Kara pointed to a row of laptops hooked up to several more heavy-duty computers. “Can you get anything out of these?” 

“Definitely.” Skye said, sitting down at one of the laptops. “How useful it will be for finding Rachel is another question.” 

“What, you can't just hack into all of Hydra's files like you did with Garrett's?” Grant demanded. “This is a Hydra server, isn't it?!” 

“Garrett kept all his information on one network. Once you got inside, you could get at just about anything inside it with even just a little hacking know-how. But Hydra 4.0. is as paranoid about its network security as it is everything else. They hide their information on the darkest parts of the deep web.” Skye started breaking through the passwords to access the local computers, making quick work of them.   
  
Kara understood the basics of what Skye had just said – she'd read Skye's briefing on Hydra 4.0. information security that had made the rounds throughout S.H.I.E.L.D. recently. But Grant hadn't. 

“And how does that help us?” He demanded again.   
  
“It doesn't,” Skye replied blandly. “In fact, it makes things harder. If I knew where these guys went and what protocols they used to access information, that'd be one thing. But they're on top of wiping all internet traffic, and I don't know what kinds of passwords or code phrases or whatever you want to call them that they use. So I can't get to any of Hydra's distributed networks. What I can do, though, is access any information that Hydra has on their files here. And given that they didn't get a chance to wipe their files, I can see if they have anything local that we can use.” 

Kara watched Skye type for a moment, then lost interest in standing and doing nothing. “I'm going to see if there's anything else useful here.” 

“Go right ahead. Might take me all of ten minutes to get through this security.” Skye replied confidently, and Kara resisted the urge to roll her eyes. 

The safehouse was the two penthouse floors, joined by a ladder going up through a hole in the floor of the upper level. It may have only had the three guards, but it had enough space to easily hold twenty or more operatives, though not all of them would get actual beds. 

_Through traffic. People on their way to other projects and operations stay here briefly, get intel, supplies..._

On the surface, the whole place looked normal, bar the mess from the fight and the ladder-hole. The bookshelves had books on them, a rather eclectic mix. The kitchens were stocked with a variety of foods, from snacks to half of one of those store-bought rotisserie chickens in one of the refrigerators. To Kara's great surprise, the place lacked any Hydra logos on _anything_. Not even a mug. Even this latest version of Hydra showed the same fondness for the skull and tentacles theme on everything, but this place had nothing. If it wasn't for the Hydra weaponry on the guards, Kara would almost have wondered if they were in the wrong place. 

It was only when she got to the pantries on the upper floor that veneer of normality vanished. Rather than food, it had weapons. Every inch of the walls was lined with weapons, the center of the small room piled high with ammunition of various types, and finally, there was a Hydra logo, painted on the ceiling, filling up almost the entire space. 

“Grant!” Kara called out. “Something useful.” She lifted one of the sniper rifles off it's hooks and tested the weight, peering down the scope. Wrong balance for her, but Grant might go for it. 

“What do you have?” Grant asked when he arrived shortly thereafter, as Kara was testing the heft on a pistol loaded with the latest explosive rounds that Hydra had been using. S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't managed to get their hands on any yet. _I suppose we'd better tell Coulson about this place once we leave._

“Weapons. The latest in top of the line Hydra manufacturing.” She tossed him another pistol loaded with heavy metal shot. “According to Fitz, the bullets loaded into that one – just a pistol – are probably enough to break through even one of Stark's latest suits.” 

“A pistol? You're joking.” Ward tested the gun's weight with a few experimental quick draws. 

“It's not like anyone's tested it, as far as I know. But Hydra's been experimenting with all kinds of advanced ammunition. We intercepted a communication a few weeks ago that suggested they were looking for something that could take on Asgardian armor specifically. And Asgardian skin too, I suppose.” As far as she knew, no known guns could actually do more than scratch an Asgardian, though the details still remained limited at best, hearsay and rumors at worst. 

“Grab what looks useful and keep searching.” Grant said, taking a few proffered clips of specialized ammunition. 

“I don't know what we're going to find ourselves. Looks like they were pretty careful here – no leaving files around for anyone to see.” Kara warned him. “Whatever Skye can get from their computers may be all we have to go on.” 

“Anything will be worth finding.” Grant replied tonelessly. “If Skye can't find where Rachel is on these files, she'll find something. Deep cover agents. Missions. Operations. Other safehouses or even bases. If I have to burn Hydra down around their ears to get Rachel back, I will.” 

“And what if something else catches fire along the way, Gran?. How far are you going to go?” 

“As far as it takes. But _only_ as far as it takes,” without another word, Grant walked out of the armory, leaving Kara to herself. She grabbed a few more guns and stuffed a half-dozen clips of the explosive bullets into her pockets before leaving the room as well. She was starting to search through one of the shelves in a living room for folded papers or signs of a book code when Skye yelled for her to come down to the lower floor. 

“Kara, get down here! Coulson's on my phone and I'm a little busy with these firewalls.” It was quick work to slide down the ladder and get over to Skye's side, taking the phone from Skye's hand as the hacker returned to the lines of code on the screen in front of her. 

“Palamas here.” 

“Agent Palamas. I have news: Ward was right. Dr. Frist is alive.” Kara inhaled sharply. “It took some doing, but I called in a few favors and got a positive match on his presence in Berlin three days ago. He was boarding a ship, so who knows where the hell he is now. I've got everyone at three bases focused entirely on back-tracing the man. It's impossible to know for sure at this point, but I think he might actually be the leader of this latest incarnation of Hydra.” 

“Leader? As in actually running the whole show, not just providing them with powered people?”   
  
“Leader. It's hard to say, but my guess is that ever since the death of Strucker he's been out on the fringes, cobbling together a faction from disaffected bits and pieces of the old Strucker and Pierce version of Hydra. There's nothing on him or his kind of science from Hydra 3.0. as it were so I think we can assume the reason he's still around is because he wasn't involved with them at all.” 

“What about that weapons development lab that turned up mysteriously empty?” As they'd slowly managed to turn the screws onto Hydra 3.0. near the end of it's run, Kara had been sent on a mission to infiltrate a weapons lab with the mask and then call in an air strike once she'd secured all the relevant intel. 

Instead, it had been completely empty – no computers, no personnel, no wreckage, no bodies. Just an empty underground warehouse with Hydra logos on every interior wall. Coulson had been sure there was no way for them to know S.H.I.E.L.D. had been onto that location, and when S.H.I.E.L.D. had finally taken down Hydra 3.0. once and for all, it turned out that they hadn't known what had happened to their lab either. 

“You think Frist took it and the people there into his own organization?” 

“It would make sense.” Kara pointed out. “I mean, someone has to be designing the latest generation in Hydra weaponry.” Knowing that he was alive, it made sense that Frist was behind this. He might even have been the one to issue the kill order on Rachel's parents in the first place, eager to get back at the people who had stolen his position in the Aurora Initiative. 

“So we know it's almost certainly Frist behind this. Do we have any idea where he is? Anything we can use?” 

“Nothing. He was in Berlin, he got on a plane headed for London, but there's no record of him landing there.” 

“He was flying commercial?” 

“Unlikely. But that's what the records and video cameras suggest. This man knows how to hide his tracks.” 

“So we've got nothing to go on.” Kara muttered a few choice curses in Arabic. “Call again when you have something.” Kara hung up on that note, setting the phone down next to Skye. Had it been her own phone, she'd just have tossed it at the wall and been done with it. But from what Kara knew, Skye was pretty attached to her phone. 

“Maybe you shouldn't have hung up on him just yet,” Skye added, her fingers entering one last line of code. “Got it!” Kara watched the screen change to a series of file names and data entries, then one was brought up. The picture at the top made it pretty clear who the file was on. 

“Grant's file?”   
  
“His file.” Skye nodded. Her eyes widened as she started to read it. “Every little thing he ever did for Hydra. Hell, everything he did for S.H.I.E.L.D. too.” She shook her head, as if clearing her own mind. “As for Rachel...” Skye quickly moved down the file.   
  
“Here's something, dated back to a few months after that mission in the Arctic,” right around the time Grant found Rachel. “Grant Ward's last known location was at the Haselrun Residence.” Skye read, “DNA evidence proves that the former Agent Ward was the one to eliminate the Kill Team and secure the Haselruns' experiment-” 

“She's a _child,_ not an experiment,” Grant said through gritted teeth as he approached the two of them. 

“I didn't say I agreed with them, Ward.” Skye said, not looking away from the screen. “But it looks like they knew you had her the whole time, they just never managed to find you. Until... two days ago. The day Coulson sent Kara and me to find you.” Skye grabbed her phone and hit redial immediately, “Pickup, pickup,” she muttered under her breath, then: 

“Coulson, how long did you have Ward's location before you sent Kara and I out after him?” Skye put the phone on speaker so they could all hear Coulson's answer. 

“Maybe three hours. After I found that document on the Aurora Initiative and realized Ward could be the one link left to that project, I created a task force to find him. They scoured everything for three weeks before they stumbled onto that picture by accident.” 

“So Hydra knew where you were the same time S.H.I.E.L.D. did.” Kara shrugged, “Makes sense – they were probably looking for you two. Found the same picture S.H.I.E.L.D. did and since they already knew you had Rachel, they made plans to kidnap her. Which means that our theory that they found out through S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't true-” 

“Not necessarily.” Skye interrupted. “First of all Coulson, why the hell wasn't I on the Task Force for finding him? Next to Kara, I know him the best of anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D.” To Kara's mind, that said more about the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. than anything else but she stayed silent. “Second of all, who was on that task force?” 

“Because when it comes to Ward, there's really no way for you to stay impartial. He elicits... extreme reactions from you.” Coulson replied. “And the task force was run out of Agent Morse's Command. She didn't know what I was stealing half of her computer specialists for but they were her people. What does that have to do with this”?” 

“Because I've got an operative codenamed 'Baebius Italicus' being named as the one who found Ward's location. And even Hydra doesn't codename their people unless they're spies. And granted, Hydra could be trying to use the codename to set us off, but I somehow doubt that, since we're not even supposed to be able to get into this system.” 

“Get to the point, Skye.” Grant ground out.   
  
“I think there was a spy, and I think that spy did tip Hydra off. And I think that spy is on the Iliad.” Skye replied. 

“How the hell are you getting that from a codename?” Coulson demanded. “There aren't any spies on the _Illiad_.” 

“Because there's a Latin version of the actual _Iliad_ – you know, the poem - written by a guy named Baebius Italicus back in the 1 st century. It's very obscure and not really that good, but I can't think of any other reason someone would pick that codename, can you? I'm guessing whoever named this spy knew a lot about Latin poets.” 

Kara raised one eyebrow, “Which you also know about, apparently,” she said slowly. “Why would that be?” 

“I _was_ raise by nuns, Kara. They drilled Latin into my head from age, like, eight. And one of the sisters really liked Italicus' version of the _Iliad_ , so she had me do a lot of lines from it.” Skye looked from Kara and then to Ward. “I could start reciting lines from Caesar's _Gallic Wars_ right now, in Latin, if you don't believe me. It just never came up.” 

“Another time, maybe.” Grant suggested. “That is something, but hardly conclusive.” 

“No, it's not. But it _is_ worth checking on.” Coulson said slowly. “I think we all know it's worth trusting Skye's instincts. Usually.” 

“Well, gee, thanks, D.C.” Skye muttered, the sarcasm sounding entirely insincere, if such was possible. 

“I'll look into it. Ward, if you promise to behave yourself and _not_ kill the spy - if they exist - when you find them, I will authorize you to come to the Playground with Agents Skye and Palamas. And from there, possibly even going to the Iliaditself.” 

Kara looked at the phone in stunned silence, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Skye was just as shocked as she was.   
  
Grant sounded just as surprised, but he was at least managing to talk: “You want to bring me into your base? A base that still has both Fitz and Simmons? And May? At what point in the last four years did you lose your mind? Or do you think I've lost mine? Why the hell would I come – and why would want me there?” 

“Agent May is out on assignment right now and will be gone for another four days.” Coulson replied quickly. “And Fitzsimmons are off-site as well. There's no one on the base with a personal investment in you right now, apart from me. And I want you here because right now, the three of you have made more progress on Hydra 4.0. than anyone else has in the last few months. You want to find your daughter; I want to bring down Hydra. Right now, our interests align very nicely – at the rate you're going, I'm half-expecting you to kill Frist by the time you're done.” 

“Death would be too good for him if he's touched a hair on Rachel's head.” Grant said coldly. Kara barely stopped herself from shivering a little at the tone, at how certain Grant sounded. Kara was fairly sure that Grant wouldn't indulge in torture once he'd gotten Rachel back, but if Rachel wasn't alive... 

Kara wasn't going to let Grant weigh down his soul even more. She'd have to stop him from doing it. 

“See, that's the kind of motivation I need.” Coulson replied firmly. “It's not as if you're going to be very welcome, but if I give the order, no one's going to get in your way. And you might be able to help us sort through the data to find leads on Frist. You still know more about the inner workings of Pierce and Strucker's Hydra than anyone else I can think of. I can have a Quinjet at your location in two hours.” 

“Make it four.” Grant said slowly. “There's more that might be useful here, and I don't think two hours is enough time for you to get your people for me.”   
  
“No, it probably isn't.” Coulson agreed. “Fine. Four hours it is.” 


	15. Did You Keep My Room Set Up?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** I don't own AoS. Clearly. 
> 
> Thanks to Riley Holden/Colormeblue for beta-reading for me. Always helpful at making this fic more readable. 
> 
> We are at the midway point of the story – we've laid the groundwork, brought the pieces together. Things will move forward fairly quickly from here. 

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 15: Did You Keep My Room Set Up? 

**The Playground**

**May 9 th, 2019**

One advantage of being a specialist is that you learned to grab sleep when and where you could. You couldn't _always_ just force yourself to sleep, much as that would be nice, but at times... you could. And Grant had reinforced that skill raising his daughter it seemed. So, with time to kill until Colson's quinjet had arrived, Grant had managed to grab a couple hours' sleep, at ICER-point. 

Kara looked over at him as the quinjet settled down into the Playground's Hangar Bay. The sleep had done him some good. He seemed to be holding himself together a little better. As the exit ramp opened up, Kara saw that Coulson was waiting for them, hands clasped behind his back. Without an armed guard. She was honestly a little surprised. 

  
“Coulson!” Grant opened his arms wide, as if he was greeting an old friend he was about to hug. “It's so great to be back. Tell me, did you keep my old room set up?” He dropped his arms to his side. 

“Your old room?” Coulson blinked, “You do remember the Bus being blown up, right?” 

  
“Yeah, and?” Grant replied, speaking in a fake but very convincing, cheery tone. “I didn't mean my room on the Bus. I meant here. Vault D. I was so fond of it, after all. I have such _good_ memories. Like say, remember the time Fitz tried to suffocate me and no one was even paying attention to the cameras? Good times Coulson, good times. Or maybe those times you sent Skye down to-” 

“If you're going to rehash the past, Ward, can you please not do it in that tone of voice?” Coulson cut Grant off before he could say more, and out of the corner of her eye, Kara could see Skye both flinch and look completely defiant at the reference to Grant's time in Vault D. “Because right now, for the first time, you're actually creeping me out.” Coulson gestured for the door out of the hangar and off to the main base. “Can we get started?” 

“Have you found the spy?” Grant demanded, following Coulson down the hall. Skye followed close behind, and Kara brought up the rear. As she had expected, several personnel looked sideways at Grant as he passed and they started to walk through the halls, but at least no one was reaching for their weapons or running screaming. She was surprised Coulson hadn't even made a show of asking for Grant's weapons, but either he didn't think it would work very well, or he trusted that Grant's determination to find his daughter overrode any threat the former agent would pose to him. 

Or knew that Grant could kill him without a weapon of any kind anyway. 

_Or possibly all three. After all, they're all true._

“We still haven't concluded that there _is_ a spy.” Coulson pointed out. “I've had people looking over everyone who works on the _Illiad_ , especially the task force we set to finding Ward initially. That's where I'd like you Skye.” He looked back to the hacker, who nodded.   
  
“I found a few more mentions of their Italicus operative, so that might help narrow the list down.” Skye said. “I'll head there now.” Skye spared a nod for each of them, then ducked off down a side-hall, probably heading to the main server room. 

“And what are we supposed to do while you check for something? We should be going to the _Illiad_ now. I'll find your spy, Coulson,” Grant promised. “I won't even need to torture anyone.” 

“That's a relief, Ward. And I was so worried about how my people would react to that. You're not an agent, Ward, and you're not going to be interrogating any of my people. If Skye or anyone else finds something to point you towards the _Illiad_ , or any other base, I'll let the three of you go there, but Agents Palamas and Skye will conduct any interrogation. I'm sure you at least trust Kara to handle that to your satisfaction.” 

“I do.” Grant confirmed. “She's the only Agent I trust.” 

“And she's the only agent I trust you with; long term. If I thought she would have listened, I would have forbidden Skye from flying out to help you find your daughter.” He looked thoughtful for a moment.” Though, I am surprised to hear you don't trust Skye, especially given that she's putting herself at just as much risk to find Rachel as you and Kara.” As gratifying as it was to hear that he trusted her and didn't trust Skye – which just made the fact that he still loved her even more incomprehensible – it did surprise Kara to hear that revelation. 

And, as much as she hated to admit it, she was getting the feeling that that fact was going to cause some sort of a problem before this was all was over. 

“I trust her to save an innocent little girl from Hydra.” Grant clarified. “But I don't think our history together is likely to make either of us trust each other. Just like I trust your good sense about dealing with Frist and Hydra 4.0 to override the sense of smug satisfaction you'd get at shoving me into a dark cell for the rest of my natural life.” It was snark-to-snark combat, but with rusty swords or something. Every word, every sound was full of barbed disgust and thinly veiled anger. But there wasn't as much anger as there could have been. 

“You know me so well.” Coulson quipped back, not sounding any more truly amused than Grant was. “I won't deny that it would be very satisfying to put you in a little box for the next fifty years or more, but yes, I'd rather see Frist brought down, and I have every intention of keeping my word. You and your daughter will be able to walk away, unscathed, once this is all over. Completely free. As long as you do nothing to get on our radar, we won't come after you.” They finally reached Coulson's office and followed him inside. 

“Which,” Coulson went on, moving to sit behind his desk, “is rather what I wanted to talk with you about for a moment. Then we can go over Frist some more.” Coulson gestured to the chairs. Kara sat, but Grant chose to stand. “Once you find Rachel, do you plan on cutting off contact with Agent Palamas?” 

“You'd better not be.” Kara cut in. She'd gone four years with no contact. She wasn't doing that again. Besides... looking back just two days, she'd _liked_ being called 'Auntie Kara' by Rachel. She'd liked Rachel. She hate to miss out on the chance to see her grow up. 

“Even if I was planning on it, we both know Kara wouldn't stand for it. I suppose the real question is what are you going to do about it?” 

“Nothing. I trust her enough not to reveal classified information, unless of course it was the news that we were coming after you or something like that.” Somehow, Kara suspected Coulson wouldn't exactly let her know if he decided to go back on his word and go after Grant. “What she does in her off time isn't really my concern.” 

“Good to hear, Director.” Kara wasn't sure she trusted that, not completely. She'd have to check for bugs and trackers whenever she went to visit Grant. 

  
“Once you find Rachel and end up wherever you end up – well, she's powered. You do realize that sooner or later she's going to come to our attention, ours or someone else's,” Coulson warned, and Kara grimaced. She could tell where this was going. Or at least where it could go. 

  
“My daughter is not going on the Index.” Grant said grimly. “If I even-” 

“Grant,” Kara cut in, “Skye runs the Index. It's very different now. Rachel is going to need to learn how to control her powers safely. And she's your daughter – do you really think she's going to be content to just sit around and not use her powers for good?” Grant would raise Rachel with the love and support he'd never had – he'd already done it for years as it was – and raise her with the moral compass John Garrett had tried so hard to rip out of him. 

Frankly, Kara gave it basically 50-50 odds that Rachel would either set herself up as a costumed vigilante out of a comic book or she'd end up joining S.H.I.E.L.D. or some eventual governmental agency that recruited powered people – whatever ended up replacing S.H.I.E.L.D. in the eyes of the world, anyway. 

The containment of 0-8-4s couldn't continue to be run by a legally dead agency operating on a (compared to before) shoestring budget with (compared to before) almost no personnel. It was untenable. Sooner or later the world's governments would create something to replace it. The only question was if they'd tried to bring Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. into it or not. 

“This isn't up for discussion.” Grant replied. 

“The Agent Ward I remember thought the Index was necessary. Is it that this is your daughter, or was that another lie?” 

“The Agent Ward you knew had to be the perfectly loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent as well as was whatever John Garrett needed him to be. I didn't have my own opinion on lot of things back then. But my daughter isn't going on any list.” 

“If she loses control of her powers or uses them in front of someone, then that choice is going to be out of your hands, Ward.” Coulson replied blandly. “But that's not really the point. We have to find her first for this discussion to ever become relevant. So,” Coulson activated the screen behind him. A picture of a man labeled Marcus Joachim Frist appeared on the screen. He was a short, thin, elderly white-skinned man with a full head of white-grey hair. Despite his obvious age, it was clear he wasn't frail, and Kara guessed he'd have some pretty decent endurance if push came to shove. Enough to try and run for a while, anyway. 

  
“Frist is an expert in genetics and genetic manipulation, which is why S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited him. I can't tell if he was Hydra from the start, or if he joined later. I'm hoping you might be able to fill in that blank, along with some others, Ward.” 

Grant shook his head, “I knew about the man, could point him out to you in a lineup, and I know some basic details, but I don't know his history. He used to be friends with Strucker, List, Whitehall – the whole roster of Hydra scientists. But he disagreed with Strucker about using Loki's staff to make powered people. He thought using alien technology to make powered people was a bad idea. This is mostly stuff I heard about when I was with Whitehall,” Grant added as an aside. 

“He was something of a scientific purist, actually. In that call he had with Whitehall, I remember him mentioning, , that he thought Whitehall should abandon the Obelisk, because it was alien technology. He thought it should all be human-born superscience. So he was a big fan of Stark, for example, from what I heard.” 

“I'm guessing he wouldn't be fond of Inhumans then.” Coulson noted. 

“I would guess not.” Grant agreed. “According to Kara and Skye, the current Hydra has plenty of powered people. He wouldn't need them anyway.” 

“And their file on the Haselrun's 'experiment',” Kara cut in, using Hydra's terminology in air quotes, “makes it pretty clear they really wanted her back. They were desperate for her. But I can't figure out why.” 

“I have a theory for that.” Coulson brought up two-dozen pictures. Kara recognized several of them as images of the powered people that Hydra 4.0 had deployed. “At current count, Hydra 4.0. has deployed thirty nine separate powered people. These twenty four were never killed in action, but we never saw any of them more than a handful of times before they vanished. And the other fifteen are all pretty recent arrivals, or _were_ killed in action.” 

“Going on your intel about the Aurora Initiative, maybe they haven't completely resolved the instability. Consequently, anyone they make powered is doomed to die a fairly early death as whatever they do to _make_ them powered destabilizes their genome. This was just a theory until two hours ago. Two days ago, we managed to not only kill one of Hydra's new gifteds, but also secure the body before Hydra could take it away. FitzSimmons have been off-site analyzing it, and... well...” Coulson brought a video up on the screen. 

Simmons was busy cutting into a dead body, dictating something with enough technical terms that Kara couldn't follow her. But within a minute, the body started to... well... liquify. 

It reminded her of _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ , but you know, real. There was no one place it started – the skin just started sloughing off the body, falling off the sides of the autopsy table. But within seconds it wasn't just the skin – if it ever had been. The liquid was thick and viscous, and Kara could only imagine the smell from the horrified and disgusted noises Simmons was making as she backed away from the table. 

  
The whole video was maybe two minutes, and by the end of it, a pile of thick, vaguely jelly-like goop was resting on the table. _Thanks for that thought, brain. Now I'm never going to be able to have jelly on toast again._ It was a sort of vague pale pinkish off-white, but really, Kara didn't want to look at it enough to identify the color. She'd seen gross shit. This took the cake for her. 

“Rachel has had powers her entire life, but she hasn't collapsed into goo,” Coulson pointed out, sitting forward in his chair. “Which means that her parents figured out how to make her stable. Which has to be why Frist wants her.” 

Kara mentally winced at the angry growl that Grant made at Coulson's words. “Well, that's all well and good from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s perspective. By rescuing Rachel, we stop Frist from perfecting his methods, but it doesn't do anything to help us find her. So unless you have something-” Kara started, but Grant interrupted, setting his palms flat on the desk and looming over Coulson, deadly threat in his voice. 

  
“I don't care what Frist wants. His motivations don't matter to me. Where he's keeping Rachel is what matters to me. So do you have any leads on that? Or are we just wasting time.” 

“Until we have a lead on who this 'Italicus' might be,” Coulson replied, “then no, we have nothing. But I'm not setting you loose on the _Illiad_ without something to go on.” Kara was not surprised that the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D was unfazed as he spoke, picking up a pen from his desk and moving it to the other side as if he was just killing time at work until the clock ran out. 

“And so we're just going to sit around and do nothing? I'm not doing that.” Grant ground out. 

  
“Grant, there's nothing _**to**_ do, unless you have any ideas on where Frist might have gone since he left Berlin. Like I said, he didn't land in London.” 

“He couldn't have just dropped out of the plane, Coulson.” Kara pointed out. “I'm pretty sure we'd have found out if he blew out part of the plane and jumped out.” 

“It wasn't a commercial aircraft. He could have docked with a quinjet or something similar.” Coulson pointed out. “Regardless, he was not on the plane when it landed in London. I've got our people in the U.K. trying to figure out what they can, but there's nothing definite.” 

“Show me the footage of the aircraft and its landing. I'm sure it got captured on someone's satellites, and we have access to them all thanks to Skye and her band of merry hackers.” Kara demanded. “I'll believe he didn't get off the plane in London when I see it with my own eyes.” 

“What are you getting at?” Coulson wondered aloud, and Kara didn't answer him – she just gave him a pointed look. “Alright, alright,” Coulson moved his finger across a touch screen for a minute and then brought up another video feed, a heavily zoomed-in view of a plane at a private hangar in London. The plane certainly looked large enough to be able to have a quinjet dock with it, but... 

A half-dozen rich businessmen and women types got off the plane, one after another. None of them were Frist, but then... 

The last one to get off had the right build for him... his face was all wrong though. There was something as he stepped out of the plane, a flash, right around his eyes... something familiar.“Playback the last few seconds, slow motion.” Kara demanded. 

“What did you see?” Kara ignored Grant's demand, watching the screen. There it was again, just as he stepped off the plane. That flash. She'd seen it in the mirror anytime she changed her face and was looking in a mirror – which was an occupational hazard. Had to double-check the look. 

“That's First.” Kara pointed to the man. 

“That is not Frist. His face isn't even remotely a mat-” Coulson started, but Kara shook her head, cutting him off with a two curt words: 

“Nano-mask.” That drew the Director up short, and even Grant was looking at her disbelieving. 

  
“Those things don't exactly grow on trees, and unless I'm much mistaken, you killed the man who designed it, Ward.” Coulson turned to the Grant, who nodded. 

  
“The mission demanded it. That's what it seemed like at the time, anyway.” Grant clarified, and Kara could hear a genuine note of regret in his voice. She'd long since come to the same conclusion – at the time... she'd thought it was the best solution too, but... well, neither of them were in a very good place then. 

“Do you really think someone else couldn't make another one? Has S.H.I.E.L.D. even tried?” She knew they hadn't. They'd done some checking into making more she knew but, in the end, the agency just didn't have the research staff or funding that it used to have. “Play it back again. And watch closely.” After they were done, she closed her eyes and changed the mask, switching her face to one she'd used on the mission she'd just finished up before Coulson had called her to the Playground at the start of this whole thing. _God, was it really only two days ago?_

“See?” Kara returned the mask to its display of her pre-injury face. “He was switching it on right as he left the plane. It's identical.” 

“You don't know that that's Frist.” Coulson countered lamely, then, “Okay, fine. The odds are good. I'll tell the UK Team to try and track this man down, to watch for little flashes like that one.” 

“More than that – Hydra has nano-masks again. And you know how hard those are to detect.” The one thing S.H.I.E.L.D. had tested on her more than once was a way to detect her mask, and as of yet, they'd not invented any reliable method. But it had always been more of a way to make sure no one could detect _her_ mask, not a concern that anyone could come in wearing one. 

“You have a spy on the _Illiad_.” Kara replied firmly, “If Hydra has these masks again, they could have spies everywhere. So we're going.” 

“This is still hardly conclusive,” Coulson pointed out skeptically, “And I didn't know you were so eager to go to Agent Morse's command.” 

“I'm not. But my instincts tell me that Skye's right – there's a spy and they're on the _Illiad._ If you want to give Skye an hour so you can feel like you're doing the formalities, fine,” Grant started to object, but Kara just held up a hand. 

As much as she understood why Grant didn't want to wait and grasped why he was antsy here of all places, she was not going to tolerate him making all this harder than it had to be. Because Grant would – the history between him and Coulson was too much for it to be otherwise. 

“But only an hour.” 


	16. The Carrier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** I own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Totally. That's why Kara died and then Ward died and Coulson gets off scott free for murder and all the other protagonist-centered morality crap he did. Because I totally hate Ward and Skyeward and I just _looooove_ Melinda May so much. 
> 
> Thanks to Riley Holden/Colormeblue for beta-reading. 

Enough Good Left After All 

By Alkeni 

Chapter 16: The Carrier 

**The Playground**

**May 9 th, 2016**

“Yeah, there's definitely a spy on the _Illiad_.” Skye told them as she walked into Coulson's office. “But it isn't one of our people.” 

Coulson's tone matched her own confusion. “The only people on the _Illiad_ are our people.” 

“No. You have an extra person. Someone who has been able to hide their irregular computer activity by being every agent on that boat with access to a computer.” Skye dropped a heavy pile of papers on Coulson's desk, which landed with a thud. “So either everyone from Morse to Joe the Mechanic is a Hydra operative, or you've got someone who is being everyone at once. You can't be everyone at once and hold a regular job. So you've got an extra person on that carrier. 

On the surface, that idea seemed absolutely ridiculous: You couldn't just go around pretending to belong when you didn't, not long term anyway. But on the other hand... 

The more Kara thought about it, the more reasonable it sounded. _The big danger of going undercover is being caught in a lie at the wrong time, or having holes in your I.D. crop up. But you don't need an I.D. if you don't exist._ Even in S.H.I.E.L.D. it was pretty easy to go where you weren't supposed to if you looked like you belonged and didn't draw a lot of attention to yourself. Especially in a facility with as much empty space as a carrier the size of the _Illiad_. 

It made perfect sense to Kara, especially given that Hydra 4.0. had nano-masks. 

“A carrier the size of the _Illiad_ can hold up to 3,200 people as part of the normal crew. And how many people do we have crewing that thing?” Kara turned to Coulson, “Maybe one hundred eighty people at this point?” 

“Two hundred and six.” Coulson corrected, having the number at his fingertips without having to check it. “It's not like we're full up on manpower.” 

“Of course not, and most of those people are original crew from Gonzales' day. But my point is that that's a lot of empty space for someone with a mask to hide in.” Kara grabbed the stack of papers and started to go through it. 

“Mask? Hydra has more of those masks, like you're wearing?” Skye pinched the bridge of her nose. “That... well, crap.” _My thoughts exactly._ Granted, even with a mask there were only so many people any given operative could pretend to be. A man, generally, couldn't go under as a woman – certainly not most women, though there were exceptions. A black person couldn't wear the mask of a white one unless they covered up all exposed skin very well, and vice versa. 

So it had to be more than the mask that was letting this spy be nearly everyone. 

The first few dozen pages seemed innocuous – irregular login times, people running checks when they were off-duty, social networking and emails to unknown accounts. From any one person, it might raise the alarm. But from over a hundred people, over the span of months? Unless you were looking for them... But even then... 

“There's no way you found all this in the last hour.” Kara looked up from the papers. “So how did you get it all?” 

“What do you think I do with my time between missions, Kara? It's not like I have a boyfriend or even much of a life to take me away from the job these days. I spend most of my time designing metadata-based algorithms to track down irregularities and collate them. Like the NSA, except I don't launch drone strikes based on what they turn up.” Skye dropped her head into her hands, “God I need to get myself a fucking life one of these days.” She looked back up, clapping her hands together, “but not right now, so let's get on a damn quinjet already.” 

“You spent an hour going after this stuff, and you're convinced we have a faceless unknown spy operating in one of our most secure facilities, undetected for months. You do realize how that sounds, Skye?” Coulson spread his hands, “I've learned to trust your instincts, but this is asking a lot.” 

“Pattern recognition is kind of an essential skill for a hacktivist, and it's even more important for a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.” Skye told Coulson sharply. “You know how well I've done in the past with it, and you know how good Ward is with it. He did train me, remember? Where is he, anyway? We need to get moving.” Skye looked around the office, as if she'd missed him when she came in.   
  
“Working out a little rage on a series of punching bags in the gym,” Kara answered. “It was better than him working it out on the Director.” 

“I feel sorry for the punching bags.” Skye drawled, then she turned to Coulson, “We don't have a lot of time here. Can we do this or not?” 

“I'll call Agent Morse, make sure she knows not to get in Ward's way. But he's your responsibility. Both of you. He starts causing trouble, I'll move you both to the Antarctic base.” 

“We don't _have_ an Antarctic base, Coulson,” Kara pointed out as she stood up. 

“We will if I need to send you two there,” the Director replied. 

“Ward is after his daughter. He starts getting caught up in other things, I'll ICE him myself,” Skye promised. “I'm more than ready to do it if I need to.”   
  
“Well, at least it would be a step up from shooting him in the back!” Kara swept past Skye, stepping out of the office, the former hacker right behind her. 

“It's not as if I trust him, Kara. And I know he doesn't trust me. It would be stupid not to be ready to deal with him if it needs to happen. And you'rel a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Technically, Ward is still an enemy.” Kara closed her eyes and inhaled sharply, turning on her heel and glaring at Skye. 

“If you're asking if there's a line between my loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D. and my loyalty to Grant that I won't cross, then yes, there's a line I won't cross even for Grant.” Innocent life, the superstructure of the entire agency, nuclear secrets. That sort of thing. But those were things Grant wouldn't threaten. Much. 

_He might not be as concerned about collateral damage, but he won't kill them himself._ Grant killed **only** when he had to. 

Kara didn't want to think about what might happen if it really did come down to turning on Grant or crossing a line of no return. She owed him a lot, but she didn't owe him her soul. She had to consider right and wrong, even if only on that grand cosmic scale. 

“Good to know. I was a little worried there.” Now it was Skye's turn to brush past Kara, which she did, heading for the gym. “It's a fun little trio we make,” she went on, “I mean, you totally don't trust me, Ward doesn't trust me, I don't trust Ward and I'm not sure how far I can really trust you as long as Ward is mixed up in what we're doing. Plus, we're both ready, under the right circumstances, to turn on-” 

“It won't be about turning on Grant, Skye.” Kara hissed, “If he starts killing innocent people, he won't be the Grant I know. He'll have betrayed himself by that point.” 

“Well, he can just add another person to the list then. It's got to be pretty long at this point. People Ward has betrayed, I mean.” Skye let out a long, bitter sigh and then took a deep breath. “It's been five years and I'm still not past that. Not really.” 

It wasn't like Kara didn't understand Skye still being upset about the betrayal, didn't understand why Skye couldn't trust Grant. But if this kept up, this mistrust between the two of them was going to get someone killed. Possibly Rachel. 

Which means they needed to get something sorted out. What, Kara really had no idea. Because when it came to Skye and Grant's issues with each other, Kara didn't have the slightest clue where to start. She still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that they still loved each other, but also didn't trust each other. As far as she was concerned, you kind of needed to have both. 

“Of course not. You're still in love with him after all. Part of you is, anyway.” Kara hissed under her breath. When Skye shot her an angry glare, Kara just smirked in satisfaction. 

“I thought we agreed we were never going to talk about that again!” Skye clenched her hands into fists. “I was angry, upset and well on my way to drunk when we had that conversation. Not the sort of thing I want to repeat.” 

“Well, we don't really have much choice. You two don't trust each other, and that's very bad for business. And unfortunately, even though I can't figure out why in the name of hell this is the case, Grant still loves you too, so we're talking bad Soap Opera level of absurd drama here.” Not that there was such a thing as a _good_ Soap Opera in the first place. 

Skye blinked, taking an obviously unconscious step back, her hands falling by her side and her fists opening. “Ward...Ward still loves me?” Kara did a mental double-take when she heard the almost hopeful, plaintive note in Skye's voice. _Shiiiiit._ Granted, Kara hadn't been entirely sure where this little idea of hers would lead, but here was not what she'd expected. 

She hadn't expected Skye to be surprised by that, hadn't expected to hear hope, even if it was soft, hidden and faint. 

_You are such an idiot, Kara. If she loves him, of course part of her wants him to love her back. Love isn't rational and there's part of her that would love to make it work._ Fuck, fuck fuckity fuck. 

“Yes, he does, and I should not have just let you in on that little fact, so let's just go back to your last idea of not talking about it.” Before Skye could say anything, Kara broke into a jog down the halls of the Playground on her way to the gym. 

**May 9 th, 2019**

**Top Deck, _Illiad_**

The crew of the _Illiad_ was out in force when Grant brought the quinjet in for a landing. He'd refused to let anyone else pilot the plane and, along the way, had broken basically every safety regulation and advisory when it came to the speed and maneuvering. 

“Ward, if you ever do that again, I will make you _pay!_ ” Skye barked at him. “I'm not much use to this mission if I've just emptied my stomach because you don't understand the concept of a reasonable speed!” 

“Oh, and how were you planning on making me pay? ICE me while I'm behind the wheel? I mean, my back was turned and everything,” He paused, “I have bigger priorities than you keeping your lunch down!” 

“I was thinking more in terms of making sure my lunch ended up all over you, but hey ICEing you has it's appeal too. At least I wouldn't have to hear your voice for a-” 

“Shut up! What the hell are you, five?” Kara walked between them, shoving them both back from each other. “Agent Morse is out there with ten armed guards and she doesn't look happy to see us, so let's get moving or is arguing with Skye really the most important thing here, Grant?” 

Kara didn't even turn to see if they were following her out of the jet. “Put the guns down, guys, I'm on your side.” 

“You're working with an enemy of this agency and I'm sure you've fantasized about killing me more than once. Saying we're 'on the same side' would be a bit of a stretch, don't you think?” Bobbi stepped forward, standing in the middle of a line of eight well armed agents, all pointing some very fine looking guns at her. Standing next to her, of course, was Lance. 

“I usually settle for maiming you, maybe frying your face a little, when it comes to my fantasies.” Kara replied coldly. This was the first time in years she and the blonde bitch had come face to face. “And Coulson did call ahead, so you know that Grant is okay to be here for now.” 

“Yeah. He did call ahead. He failed to elaborate just what it is you three are supposed to be up to on _my_ ship though.” From anyone else, Kara could respect Morse's terse resentment at being upstaged in her own facility. As it was though, it just gave Kara the warm fuzzies to be able to show her up with full authorization from the Director. “Wanna fill me in?”   
  
“Not really” Kara looked back into the jet, where Skye and Grant had finished their little argument and were finally following her. “If Coulson didn't think you could be trusted with the details, then he didn't think you could be trusted with the details. I'll follow his lead here. Your purpose in all this is just to help us on our investigation. With whatever we need.” Maybe Kara could make her fetch the coffee. Direct from Columbia. 

“Bloody hell, Kara, Bobbi, neither of you are properly equipped for a pissing contest.” Lance said, walking past his wife to stand between her and Kara. “So why don't you two at least pretend to get along? I mean if Skye and her old buddy Ward can pretend to get along for whatever the hell this is, then why can't you two?” Kara heard both people behind her let out low, frustrated sighs at Lance's words – they didn't like being used as props for Lance to make his point. And neither of them would like the 'old buddy Ward' part. 

Kara inhaled sharply. _Fuck._ She was being as bad as she'd just accused Grant and Skye of being. Biting her tongue for a long moment, Kara finally nodded, Bobbi following suit. 

“Say it. Promise you'll behave. Both of you.” Lance looked from her to his wife and the back again. 

“Fine. I'll behave.” Kara promised. 

“So will I.” Bobbi finally ground out. Bobbi gestured downwards with one hand and her people lowered their guns. 

“Good. Now, “Lance turned to her fully and pulled her into a quick, friendly hug which Kara gladly returned. Once he'd pulled back, “been a while Kara. It's good to see you.” 

“You too Lance.” Kara smiled. “How's life at sea?” 

The mercenary shrugged, “Could be better, could be worse. Last I heard you were going undercover into that cartel based out of Caracas.” 

“I'd just finished that up when S.H.I.E.L.D. found Grant and sent me and Skye to find him.” She pointed back to Grant with her thumb. “That was two days ago. Since then... things have gotten complicated. Quickly.” 

“And they're time sensitive. So let's get moving, alright?” Grant cut in, stepping forward. “We've done the chitchat, we've all met, sort of, so let's get moving on finding what we came here to find.” Given that they were looking for a spy who could be anyone, anywhere, Coulson had agreed that telling anyone over a channel would be a bad idea. They'd have to let Morse in on it once they were somewhere quiet, unfortunately, but they couldn't go spreading the word widely. 

“I'm all for that. Why don't you tell me just why it is I'm supposed to give a member of Hydra – sorry, _former_ member of Hydra free reign on the _Illiad._ ” 

“We'll fill you once we don't have as many ears.” Skye cut in, earning herself a glare from both Grant and Kara. _I was hoping to keep her dancing to my tune for a little bit longer._ “The short version is that we're after something that Hydra wants to keep pretty badly, and Ward is...” Skye pursed her lips for a moment, “ _highly_ motivated to find it.” 

“What have they got, his soul?” Lance quipped, then looked over at Kara, “Sorry.” Kara just rolled her eyes and sighed. That was Lance for you. Besides, if she got furious at every person who ever made a negative comment about Grant... 

Skye nodded, “You could say that. In a way. Anyway, let's get somewhere private.” 

**May 9 th, 2019**

**Agent Morse's Office, The _Illiad_**

“You want me to believe that there's a spy on my ship, and you want me to give the three of you, including Ward, free reign on how to find them. And you don't even have the first clue who they are?” Morse shook her head, “On a scale of one to ten, how stupid do you think I am?” 

“Eight.” Kara supplied immediately, ignoring the glare Lance shot her. How was Kara not supposed to take that opening? Honestly. 

“We're not the ones who want you to believe this,” Skye said, “You can ignore my stack of evidence all you want,” Skye tapped the pile of papers she'd brought with her from the Playground, “but Coulson believes me, and he did order you to work with our investigation.” She took a breath, “Look, I get how this doesn't work for you, but -   
  
“'Doesn't work for me'? That's an understatement. And we still haven't gotten to the part where Ward gets to be involved-” 

“I'm involved because the spy we're after is the spy who told Hydra that S.H.I.E.L.D. found me – and they used that information to kidnap my daughter!” Grant's hand flew to his gun as he spoke, raising his voice a little bit with every word. “So let me be perfectly clear. Right now there are two kinds of people: the people helping me find my daughter, or the people **standing in the way** of me finding her. You don't want to be standing in my way on this, Agent Morse. If you do, the only thing I can promise you is that it will be quick.” In one smooth motion, before any of them could react, Grant had pulled out his gun and pointed it at Morse. 

But his motion was followed by Skye, Lance and Morse all drawing their own weapons and pointing them at Grant.   
  
Kara stood there a moment, her own hand instinctively on her gun, but she hadn't drawn it yet. And she didn't have to. 

“Grant. Put the gun down.” Kara said calmly. “Agent Morse is a bitch, we can both agree on that. But this is her ship, and even I'm not going to just stand here and let you shoot her. She'll obey Coulson's orders. She just doesn't want to. But she will. She's good at following orders. Put the gun down.” She said again. 

There was a long moment, then finally, Grant lowered his gun, starting to holster it, but Kara shook her head, “Hand it over. I think it's best if you aren't armed while we're interrogating people.” Grant handed her the gun after another long silent moment. Skye, Morse and Lance holstered theirs. 

“And the other one,” Kara told him. “And the knife in your boot.” She'd let him keep the knife in his sleeve for now. It was smaller and letting Grant stay a little armed would be a good idea. Not that he didn't know dozens of ways to kill a man without a weapon. Of course, she did too. It was kind of a requirement for specialists. 

_And now I'm wondering which of us knows more – Grant, Morse or me?_

Inhaling sharply, Grant complied, setting both weapons on the table. 

“Good. Now, as to how we get rid of the spy, since they have a mask, the first thing we need to do is lock this ship down. Contain the crew in small groups. There's no way to detect one of these masks, and each one can swap out to a number of different faces. They could be anyone. So the best bet is to trap them somewhere.” 

“You want to turn this entire facility upside down? Suspend all operations?” 

“Yes. Because as long as you're operating, Bobbi, the spy can keep doing their thing.” Skye explained. “The only people we can be 100% certain aren't the spy wearing a mask is the three of us... as long as we stay together. Technically, one of you two could be the spy. It's unlikely... very unlikely, actually, but not impossible.” 

“The spy needs to be flushed out.” Grant said, no emotions in his voice. “You have an extra person on this ship. So you need to make it easier to find that extra person. This ship has full lockdown protocols, like any old-style S.H.I.E.L.D. base, correct?” Morse nodded. Of course it did. The ship had been built by pre-fall S.H.I.E.L.D., like the Playground. The more recent one's hadn't been built with the same budgets, unfortunately. “We split the ship into sections, count and I.D. everyone and start from there. Either we're going to find dead bodies, or we're going to find inconsistencies.” 

“Sounds a bit too simple.” Lance pointed out. 

“We're going to have to stick to doing this as just two teams.” Skye explained, “So it won't be that simple. Until we can one hundred percent verify that someone really is themselves, no one should be alone. So you and your wife can stick together at the hip, and the three of us will stick together. “ 

“Didn't they do something like this in _Deep Space Nine_?” Kara thought out loud. It also reminded her of _Stargate SG-1_ too. That episode where Anubis was body-hopping. _Oh god. I watch too much sci-fi television in my spare time. I need a fucking life too._

“I think so.” Skye agreed. “Doesn't make it a bad idea.” 

“All our lockdown drills have presumed that at least some of our people can be trusted. If I start telling everyone to seal themselves in, we're going to have problems.” Morse replied. It was a point that Kara couldn't just dismiss. 

“If we make sure the security teams stick together in groups of two or three, we can probably make it work.” Grant pointed out, his hands clenched into fists. “The additional manpower would make this faster. We don't have a lot of time.” 

“If we contain the security personnel first, check them all...” Kara thought aloud. “That could work. Put the word out – every member of your security team comes to one central location. But do it quietly. The longer before the spy realizes our play, the better.” The spy had to know they were onto them – or at least they would be once they found out that Grant, Skye and herself were here. The fact that a known traitor was on the ship was news that was going to spread fast. _Grant had better not take off his tactical gear the entire time we're here._

“Oh, and I don't think it needed to be said,” Skye said anyway, “but the whole ship is cut off. No one leaves – not even the three of us – until we find that spy. No one else comes here either.” She held up her phone and brought up a recording, pressing play and Coulson's face and voice came out. 

“I am authorizing Agent Skye to enact Article V, Section 12 on the _Illiad_ if her pursuit of the spy requires it. As of the moment this recording ends, the _Illiad_ will be dead to the world. No one in or out. No transmissions in or out. As of now, The _Illiad_ stands alone.” 


	17. The Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** As usual, I don't own it. Hasn't changed. I'll keep you posted though. I've got this whole plan to sue the Fail Triumvirate for control of the show. I'm gonna wear a polyester suit and represent myself and tell the court that it is on trial! Or something. I'll let you know how it goes.
> 
> Thanks to colormeblue/Riley Holden for beta-reading this chapter.

Enough Good Left After All

By Alkeni

Chapter 17: The Hunt

**May 9th, 2019**

**Conference Room, The** _**Iliad**_

"I'm sure you're all wondering how you're going to detect the mask, how you're going to be able to find out who is wearing it," Kara explained to the assembled security officials. "And the truth is, you're really not. No scientific process S.H.I.E.L.D. has come up with has proven capable of detecting it."

Honestly, Kara thought that was an oversight at best, negligence at worst. There was no reason to develop an infiltration technology you yourself couldn't beat. It was... silly. But S.H.I.E.L.D. had done it, and so far, there was no evidence to suggest that Hydra had any way to detect the mask itself either.

"The only way to tell if someone is wearing the mask is if they, quite literally, aren't the person they appear to me." Kara explained. "You've lived and worked with the people on this boat for months, years even in many cases. So you know them. Ask them about things only they could know."

"It's not foolproof, but the first thing you should do is run their prints." Skye added, stepping forward, holding up a tablet. Like all the tablets, like all the electronics on the _Illiad,_ it was no longer connected to the internet (thanks to the lockdown initiated by Coulson enacting Article V, Section 12) or to anything but the central server on the carrier. Fortunately, it did have a database of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and their fingerprints. "We're looking for an extra person who can be anyone - who _has_ been each and every one of you at some point. They can mock up their prints, yes, but they can only be wearing one set of fake prints at a time. It's a chance."

"This a full lockdown. Passage through the carrier will be restricted," Morse informed her men, "Your keycards have been cleared for movement, but all doors will close behind you soon after you open them, so don't linger."

Kara was surprised that Morse was managing to keep the skepticism out of her voice. She was actually managing to act like a professional. _Wow. Who would have thought?_ Even as that thought crossed her mind, the hypocrisy of her sarcasm hit her. If that blonde bitch could be a hundred percent professional, then so could she, damnit.

"We're taking a headcount first. All personnel will be kept in groups of no more than ten, in separate parts of the ship, in rooms with cameras. Check everyone's prints and make sure they understand: No one leaves their assigned holding areas until and unless the spy is found." Morse went on. "You will be operating in groups of three. If one of you ever gets out of sight of someone else, all three of you need to isolate yourselves somewhere and radio in for someone else to check you."

"How can we be sure none of us are the spy? If they can be anyone, I mean," one of the agents asked.

"You can't." Kara explained. "Technically anyone in this room _could_ be the spy. Right now, paranoia may just be the word of the day. This is not going to be a simple process where we just snap our fingers and find the spy. They've been here for months, living among you, pretending to be every one of you at some point or another. Frankly, you should all be ashamed of yourselves that they pulled this off," Kara said, sparing a smirk for Morse. "But... well, I know firsthand how easy a nano-mask makes sneaking into a place. And this carrier has more space than anyone knows what to do with."

Morse made no visible reaction to her remark but instead brought up a three dimensional hologram of the _Illiad_ on the holo-table at the center of the conference room. "There are nineteen of you and the five of us. That means eight teams of three." She started listing off the teams, "Agents Skye and Palamas will be Team A with our guest, Grant Ward." She gestured to Grant, who was in the back of the room, arms crossed in front of him as he waited impatiently for this meeting to be over. "As you've probably guessed, Ward is no longer a target for the agency. If he attacks you or otherwise threatens your life or those of your fellow agents, treat him like you would any other threat. Otherwise... don't. The Director has given him permission to be here." Morse gestured to one of the other security agents. "Thompson, you're with Hunter and myself. Team B." She rattled off the other Six teams. She pressed a few keys and the holo-display of the _Illiad_ split into seven different sections, each one with a color.

"Each Team, except for Team E, will have a section." Morse went on. "Make sure everyone is accounted for, take full headcounts, check prints, the works. If have an extra person, we need to either find them, or flush them out somehow. We need to, give them nowhere to hide and no one to hide as. Team E will stay here and watch the cameras. Keep an eye on someone suddenly changing their face or other less obvious signs that someone might not be who they say they are."

Kara looked at the display. Team A had been assigned the lower decks which included the engine room. Honestly, that was fine by her. The lower areas of the ship were where she'd hide out if she was pulling this spy's routine. It would be tempting to use an empty dormitory, since there was plenty of bunk space to spare but that was exactly the issue. Rather than bunking three or four to a room, most people were two to a room, and there were a lot of one person rooms. All it took was for someone to decide they needed a little space for a few nights and your hideout risked being blown. But they wouldn't be hiding near the engines either. That was high traffic as well.

"We'll head down now," Kara said, gesturing to herself, Skye and Grant. "Unless you need us to field more questions?"

"I'm sure we'll manage on our own, Agent Palamas." Somehow, despite sounding completely level and professional, Morse also managed to make her tone sharp enough to cut steel. _I might need to learn how to do that._

"Good." Kara ignored the roll of Skye's eyes as she made her way out of the conference room, Grant right behind her. After a minute, Skye was out in the hallway as well.

"As the resident infiltration expert, what do you say the odds of this working are?" Skye asked, her eyes flicking to Grant.

"Eventually? High," Kara said. "No one can stay hidden in a facility that's being turned upside down and under complete lockdown forever. But quickly? The odds of that are less in our favor. But unless we get lucky and our spy makes a mistake, it's all we have to work with." She bit her lip and looked over at Grant herself. "I'm sorry."

"I will find her, one way or another," Grant said tersely. Then he added: "But I'd rather you be honest than lie and tell me this is guaranteed to work in the next hour." Kara watched him let out a slow breath. She was about to say something - she wasn't sure what, just, anything - to try and reassure him, but Skye beat her to the punch.

She put a hand on his arm lightly, and only for a second, but it did the work of a hundred reassuring statements. He wasn't relaxed, not even close, but Kara could almost see the coiled stress start to leave him a little bit. If she'd ever doubted these two idiots when they'd said (separately) that they loved each other, this would be the moment she stopped.

"We'll find her, Ward. I promise," Skye said softly.

_Okay, seriously, you two are the world's biggest idiots._

Correction. Second biggest. The biggest was whichever genius in Hydra decided that kidnapping Grant Ward's daughter was a good idea.

**May 9th, 2019**

**Engine Room, The** _**Iliad** _

"Just put your hand on this, exactly as displayed," Kara said, holding the tablet out to the agent. She watched as the other woman put her hand over the hand on the tablet. A moment later, her prints were scanned and they did the other hand. Both sets came up right.

"Alright Agent Yvonne Queylan, you check out." Kara lowered the tablet. "Just a few questions: Does the name Baebius Italicus mean anything to you?" Any would be spy would not be happy about hearing their code name dropped in front of them. It wasn't a guarantee, but it was worth a try.

"No. Should it?"

"It should if you were the spy," Kara answered. There was no surprise, not even a slight reaction, from Agent Queylan. "Does the last name Haselrun ring a bell?" Again, nothing. "Alright. For the moment, you're good." Of the eleven people working in the engine room when the lockdown went into effect, so far all of them checked out. Kara spoke into her radio, "All eleven in the engine room check out." She listed off the names, "Any duplicates?"

"Not so far, no," one of the agents back in the conference room said. "Agent Morse wants you to take them out of the engine room and put them somewhere they can't sabotage the ship if one of them is the spy."

"Of course she does." Kara seriously doubted any spy would try to blow the ship up or otherwise seriously damage it . Maybe they'd try to cut the power, but since all the lock-down doors were powered by electricity, that was a stupid move too. No. Fanatics willing to blow up a ship with themselves in it did not make good spies.

A good spy had to be willing and able to die for their cause, yes, but there was a difference between being willing to die and being eager to. The kind of violent fanatics that operated on the front lines and chewed their poison capsules were not the kind of people who made effective spies. This spy - Italicus - _might_ have a suicide capsule, but they weren't going to blow up the ship with themselves on it.

"We're on it." Kara turned to the agents, who were now clustered together, lowering her radio. "Okay, all of you. We're heading to one of the storage rooms." She looked over at Skye, "Which one should we stick them in?"

Skye tapped her own tablet, then pointed off to the left, "There's one over there. We can lock them in and continuechecking the rest of our area." Kara nodded and gestured to Grant. He moved over to the door of the storage room and used the pass-card Morse had given him, opening the storage door. It would expire in a day, the card becoming a useless strip of plastic, but since Grant Ward didn't have a lanyard of his own, it was kind of more or less something he needed to have for this.

Morse hadn't been happy about it. Neither had Hunter. Kara really couldn't blame him. While he didn't hate Grant and he'd come to appreciate that the man was more complicated than S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to believe, he was still the enemy up until today, so...

The thought of extending the same courtesy to Morse never even occurred to Kara, however.

"Inside," Kara gestured to everyone, ignoring the sounds of surprise and disbelief from everyone. "You're going in there. The more free rein people have, the more chances that the spy becomes someone we've already checked and this whole thing starts over. You all have radios in case something happens, and the room will be monitored. But you are going in there."

"Guys, this is a lockdown. The more you cooperate, the faster it goes," Skye added. "And the faster you can get back to your regular stuff. Come on, go, go."

"I can force you in there," Grant added grimly, his arms crossed in front of him again. "Go." Several of the agents, all of whom had disarmed upon the orders Morse had given when she initiated the lockdown, reached for their empty holsters at the threat in Grant's voice, but after a long moment, they complied, filing into the storage room. With the crates inside of it, probably holding engineering related supplies, it was a little bit cramped for all eleven, but not too much so. They could live.

"With any luck, the lockdown will be over soon. Either way, you'll be let out of here in a few hours, most likely," Kara said, closing the door and letting it lock. They were sealed in there now. The air vents weren't big enough for anyone but Ant Man to get through.

Kara turned back to Grant and Skye once the door was closed.

"Well, let's get moving," she said. "We have a lot more space to cover. The spy won't find themselves."

**May 9th, 2019**

**Lower Decks, The** _**Iliad** _

The lower levels of the _Illiad_ were cramped, filled with dusty - yes, dusty - pipes. At the very least there were no cobwebs and the lights worked properly. Or else this would be nothing more than one raging cliche. And Kara was not in the mood for _more_ cliches.

After what had seemed like a reasonable amount of functional cooperation between Grant and Skye, all pretense was dropped. In the narrow passages they were walking through, Ward refused to have Skye at his back and Skye had been just as unwilling to experience the reverse.

Which left Kara in the middle since she was the one they both trusted to not stab them in the back.

"You really shouldn't be in the front," Skye pointed out, speaking to Grant. Kara reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. An hour in and this was the 26th needlessly antagonistic comment from Skye.

"And simply saying something should or shouldn't be the case makes it so?" Grant replied, his tone dripping with a combination of mild contempt and raging sarcasm. Having a kid had apparently done wonders for his snark because he was on necessarily prime form with his tone. "I mean, you _are_ the moral arbiter of all that is right and good in the world, aren't you?" She couldn't actually hear it in his tone but Kara suspected there was a lot of bitterness in his words.

"No, you shouldn't be in the front because you're too emotionally connected to this case, Ward. This is your daughter we're talking about - there's nothing you won't do, no line you won't cross. I think I can say we've seen firsthand how _that_ works out for you," Skye drawled and Kara came to a halt, forcing Skye to do the same.

Grant kept walking a few steps before he realized they weren't following.

"Guys- maybe we should save this-" Kara started, but Grant's voice interrupted her, the man possibly not even having heard her at all.

"There's no line I wouldn't cross for her. _Exactly_. That's what parents are supposed to do for their children. But then-" Ward started, clearly about to go for the throat, but Kara interrupted him before he could finish that one.

"Both of you! This is not the place for fucking petty sniping!" Kara raised her voice, her hand going to the ICER she'd borrowed from the _Iliad_ 's armory. If they wanted this spy alive, that was the weapon of choice here. _I'll ICE them both and find Italicus myself if I fucking have to._ Which, as it stood, was looking to be a very likely possibility.

"No, you were right back at the Playground Kara," Skye said, still looking past her to look at Grant. "This issue between us is bad for business and we should have this out, _now._ "

"Really? You want to have it out here? Now? While my daughter is being held by Hydra?" Grant's expression formed into a pure snarl, "Since it's your priorities and not my daughter's _life_ you care about, fine!"

Kara tried to get a word in edgewise but apparently they were off to the races.

"This is bigger than your daughter, Ward! Yes, I want to save her because she's an innocent little girl. But there are things I won't do to save her. You on the other hand... you'd do anything. You would betray us _again_ to get Rachel back. No, don't even try to deny it. There is no way you can. Look me in the eye - look _Kara_ in the eye - and tell me that you wouldn't hand us both over to Hydra on silver fucking platters to get her back."

"You do **not** get to make me your rhetorical prop, Skye!" Kara cut in, but again, it didn't seem either of them were hearing her. Grant took a step towards Skye and Kara braced herself, ready to move to block whichever one tried to make the first move. If this didn't end with something flying - fists or bullets - Kara would be _shocked_.

"The problem here isn't my intentions or my 'treachery', Skye. The problem here is you and your intentions. You don't trust me? Well, let me let you in on a little secret: I don't trust you either. I've learned what trusting you - what trusting anyone who works for S.H.I.E.L.D. who isn't Kara - does to me." _I'm not your rhetorical prop either Grant!_

"And just what the hell are you afraid I'm going to do then, huh? I've never turned on my friends, the people I'd been living with for months, the person I claimed to _love_!"

"You run the Index, Skye! This isn't about rescuing some innocent little girl for you. Not really! This is about putting my daughter on the Index, about taking her from me and using her! You say you can't trust me to not betray you? I can't trust you or S.H.I.E.L.D. to not do the same! What's to stop you from taking Rachel when she's rescued? She's gifted, after all."

Skye spluttered, "Ward, what kind of _idiot_ are you? You really think I'd rip a child away from her parent like that? After what _I_ went through, being raised in the system, with no parents, no place to call home?"

"I used to think you'd never become the good little soldier-agent, by the book, and look how that turned out. You used to question assumptions, Skye. You used to see the world differently and then you changed. And maybe I'm at fault for that, but there's nothing I wouldn't put past you doing in the name of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Much as Kara hated to admit it, Grant wasn't being entirely fair here. Skye's little so-called 'Mini-May' phase was long over, and she wasn't _quite_ a 'little miss what are my orders good little soldier' anymore. She really didn't think Skye would even consider ripping Rachel away from Grant. Making a note of her, putting her on the Index in some sort of passive monitoring category? Sure, Kara could see that.

But Skye would never put a child through what she'd been through. If they weren't victims of abuse or neglect, gifted children the agency discovered were always left with their parents. Skye ran the Index, so clearly she was behind that choice.

Unbidden, something Grant had said not two days earlier came to mind:

_I was going to take her to an orphanage, just leave her there, with a forged birth certificate and an invented name. And then I remembered, back before...before Hydra rose up, Skye told me about growing up an orphan – an orphan who didn't know her name, didn't know where she came from, didn't know who her parents were or why they'd abandoned her. Didn't know her own damn birthday. Bouncing around the foster-care system, never being a good fit, never wanted. As...ridiculous as it sounds, even saying it now, I just...I just didn't want to let any child go through that if I could help it._

But telling Grant that he was being unfair to Skye here wasn't going to change anything. If the man actually used his brain, he'd know he was being unfair. He _knew_ Skye. He still loved her because she was still the person he'd loved before, even if a lot of that was buried under everything that had happened to her since.

This wasn't an intellectual response either of them were having. Because if Skye used her own brain, she'd know that there was no universe where Grant would rejoin Hydra, or hand them over to get Rachel back. Pretend to, maybe, but not actually. There was no universe where Grant would actually give Hydra what they wanted. Not when they were the people who had taken Rachel in the first place.

But... they'd both been hurt by the other...

_Fucking shit._

"Alright, both of you, shut the _hell_ up!" Kara pulled her ICER and her regular gun out of their holsters as she yelled, pointing both at the ceiling for the moment. She stood perpendicular to Skye and Grant, so she could watch them both.

"This is helping no one. Not Rachel, and not S.H.I.E.L.D." She looked around and saw a door just ahead, on the left. "You two are going to sort your trust issues out and you're going to do it _now_. I don't care how you do it - have a fist fight, yell, whatever - but you're going to do it now." Lunging at Skye, Kara holstered her pistol in a fluid motion as she grabbed one of Skye's arms and twisted it around her back, at just the right angle to break it. Ignoring Skye's protest, Kara pointed her ICER at Grant.

"We're not going to find the spy or save Rachel as long as you're like this. So, I am going to lock you both in that room." Grant started to say something and so did Skye, but Kara just waved her ICER And tutted over them.

"AH-AH- Shut up. Both of you. Go or I'll just ice you both and find the spy myself." She let go of Skye's arm and shoved the other woman forward. "Go, go!" She said again.

After a long moment, the two of them started to move towards the door. Grant opened it and went inside first and Kara followed Skye close behind as the other woman went in.

"Your tablet Skye," Kara said, extending a hand.

"You have one. What the hell do you want that for?"

"I don't want you hacking your way out of the room. You two have one hour to sort your shit out enough to be able to work together. After that, I ice you both, call for backup and keep looking by myself." Technically, this was violating the rules, what with the whole 'never be alone' thing, but Kara had a guaranteed way to prove she wasn't the spy if confronted. She could turn her mask off, show them her real face. She hated the idea of doing that, but... well, it was what she had.

"One _hour_?" As if proving how stupidly in love the two of them were, Skye and Grant said that objection in near-unison.

"You're crazy!" Skye started.

"Kara, what you're demanding is-"

"Impossible?" Kara finished Grant's sentence for him. "I"m not asking you two to kiss and make up for everything that happened. I'm just asking you to be able to work things out enough that you can fucking work together long enough for us to rescue Rachel and knock over whatever base Hydra's decided to hide her at. That's not much. But this won't work if you're both expecting the other to betray you at the drop of a hat." She extended her hand to Skye again, "The tablet."

Skye hesitated for another long moment, then finally she handed her device over. Kara took it and tucked it under one arm, glaring at them both. "Sort it out. Both of you. Now."

Slamming and locking the door, Kara brought up the camera feeds from the room. It took a bit of doing to find the right feeds but she did. Bad soap opera or not, Kara needed to watch them to see if they actually did what she asked.

The room was small, about the size of a large storage closet, and entirely empty, which gave them enough room to not be _right_ next to each other... and not much else.

"If Rachel is hurt because of this delay-" Ward started, but Skye interrupted him.

"Don't start on me, Ward!" Skye snapped, crossing her arms in front of her. "This is _your_ fault. Don't you dare act like you're the one with the legit reason to not trust me. You're insane if you really think I'd ever take your daughter from you."

"And _you're_ not insane for thinking that I'd turn you and Kara over to Hydra to get Rachel back? That I'd sign on with them to get her? They're the ones who took her from me in the first place! I will kill each and every one of those bastards before I _join_ them. And of all the people I could hand over to them - you, Kara? Never. Not in a million years."

"By your own words, there are no lines you won't cross for her, Ward!" Skye spat. "That means if it came to it, you _would_ do that. We've seen what happens when your devotion to the people you care about gets taken to extremes." Skye shook her head, and Kara watched her drop her arms to the side.

"Kara told me some things, months after you vanished. Told me about you, about what Garrett did to you. Some of it, anyway. How he - brainwashed you."

"I made my own choices, Skye," Ward replied coldly.

"Yes, you did. I am sure as _hell_ not saying otherwise. But Garrett made you need him. He tore you down and built you up. After... after what your family did to you, it was easy for him to move in and make himself the center of your universe... and then he led you off a fucking cliff. I know what that's like. I found my parents, you know. Both of them. And I fell into the same trap with them that you did with Garrett. But unlike you, I was able to see where it was going, what my mother was really doing, what she really was. You never saw it. Call it whatever you want: brainwashing, tearing you down and building you up." Skye shook her head.

"But whatever he did to you... what you did, to me, to the team. The way you betrayed us. I can't just put all that aside, even knowing why."

"If you know why I did what I did, why I turned on the team..." Grant shook his head, "Then I can't even imagine why you think I'd betray you again, now of all times." He threw his hands up in disgust, "I tried to make up for what I did. Somehow. To at least... start a process that I could never finish. But I seem to recall you and Coulson rejecting every attempt I made to... anything. I seem to recall you telling me to try kill myself better. Coulson tried handing me over to my brother. You, of course, shot me in the back while I was trying to help you escape Hydra. I don't have a lot of trust left for you either, Skye. I certainly don't have much reason to."

Skye shook her head, "Do you want me to say I'm sorry? Because I'm not sure I can. I'm sorry _now_ , yes. But saying 'I'm sorry' as if I wish I could unsay what I said, undo what I did? Do you have any idea what it was like, being betrayed by you like that, when I found out you were Hydra? For God's sake, you'd just told me you loved me, and I'd basically just told you the same thing." She let out a small scoff.

"There was brief moment, Ward, when I thought... when everything would be alright. The agency I'd worked so hard to become a member of was gone, we were on the run from every agency with an acronym _and_ the military and Hydra was on the loose. The Fridge had been broken up. But... we still had the team. _I_ had the team. I had my family. I had _you_. I loved you, Ward. So much -" Skye's voice broke a moment, and she could see Grant try to take a half-step back, but he was already up against the wall.

After a moment, Skye went on, "Goddamnit Ward, do you even realize how much I was in love with you at that point, when I kissed you in that closet at the Hub? If I used a notebook at all back then, I'd have been filling the margins of every page with the hearts drawn around our names!"

Kara blinked at that revelation. Not so much the fact that Skye had been hopelessly in love with Grant but that she'd use that kind of analogy. Honestly, she couldn't imagine the Skye she knew writing 'Skye and Grant 4 Eva!' in a cutesy little heart, like something out of a TV show set in High School.

Grant looked down at the ground as Skye continued to berate him, the Inhuman's voice going softer, quieter.

"There was that single, bright shining moment, Ward, when I thought... when I thought everything would be alright. That the world... that the world really made sense. That I had found my exact place in the world. I had a family, I had someone I loved and who loved me. And you _took that away from me!_ " Skye took a step towards him - there really weren't a lot of steps to spare as she raised her voice.

"You tore that away from me," She said again, her voice soft once more. "I loved you so goddamn much, and then... you were lying to us, to _me_ the entire time! You were a murderer, a liar, and a traitor. I hated you... and I hated myself even more."

Kara felt her throat go tight as she watched Grant look up. She could see the confusion, the pain in his eyes. Skye's eyes showed small signs of wetness.

She hadn't expected this... this depth of emotions. Especially not this quickly. She felt... vaguely voyeuristic, watching Skye... bare her soul like this.

"Hated yourself?" Grant blinked slowly.

"You were a traitor, to the team. To my family. You tried to kill FitzSimmons. You tried to bring me to Garrett. Do I even need to list everything you did? But I still loved you. You were the monster in the basement and I _still fucking loved you!_ Do you have any idea what that does? How much self-loathing that generates? How much... how much you start to wonder if you're just as evil as the person you're in love with? Do you want to know why I said all the horrible things I said to you in Vault D? Because it was easier to hate you even more, to blame you for me still loving you, than to keep hating myself. _That's_ why I agreed to go down there to interrogate you about Creel. So I could throw it all in your face. So I could... make you hate me the way I hated you... the way I _wanted_ to hate you."

Kara blinked, looking away from the screen for a moment. When had Skye talked to Dr. Garner about all this? There was almost no way in hell she'd gotten all this from introspection alone.

"And the 'funny' part is - I don't hate myself for it anymore - but I'm _still_ in love with you, Ward." Kara looked back at the screen and, somewhere in the few seconds she'd been away, Grant had taken a step towards Skye. Kara didn't think either of them really noticed how close they were to the other. "I can't have a relationship with anyone else. No matter how perfect the guy, how much I should be able to stay with him, want to stay with him. They all end. Because I'm still in love with a man I can't trust. Because I can't still trust you, Grant." Kara watched Grant's eyes widen in a visible display of surprise as she used his first name. "Do you get that? Do you understand why I have some trust issues where you're concerned?"

"I'm still in love with you too," Grant said softly. "What I did, to you, to the team. If there was some way I could undo it, I would. If there was some way I could make it up to you, I would. But this... trust problem goes both ways. I reached out to you and every time, I got burnt. I tried to help you, Skye. I was trying to save you and you shot me. In the back. Four times. You made it pretty clear that nothing could happen between us. And yet, I'm still in love with you. I can't move on either." Grant gestured towards the door.

"I should - God, I should be able to... at least, consider the possibility of Kara. But I can't! I can't get over you, and so I've hurt her when she's done nothing to deserve it. And it's not even your fault." Kara felt her throat tighten even more. She really hadn't even _wanted_ this out of him.

"I love you Skye. I always will. But I know-" Before Grant could say anything more, Skye grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pressed her lips to his, throwing her other arm around his neck.

_And this is when I check out._ Kara shut off the camera view. She'd give them a few minutes and then... well, clearly they'd made some progress.

She was about to turn, to start pacing when she felt the cold press of gun barrel to the back of her neck and an unfamiliar voice speaking over the sound of a safety clicking off.

"Agent 33. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."


	18. Italicus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** I don’t own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
> 
> **Author’s Note:** Yeah, so it has been a bit of a while since I updated this, I know, and I know a lot of you wanted a resolution of the cliffhanger sooner. I don’t have any real good excuses - life, writers block, struggling with a monstrously long chapter for something else, et cetera.
> 
> The good news is, now that I have my own place, there is a 70% chance that I’ll be able to increase the amount of time I have to writing in a productive and useful fashion, so let’s cross our fingers, pray to the deity (or lack thereof) of our choice and hope.
> 
> **Author’s Note 2:** Previously on “Enough Good Left After all”, the author proved that he is a little shit by ending the chapter on quite possibly the worst possible place he could have (okay, second worse. There was a worse place I could have ended the chapter.)
> 
> As always, thanks to colormeblue/Riley Holden for beta-reading. If you haven’t read their Skyeward story “A Spy Like Me” and you like Skyeward at all (which I’m guessing you do if you’re on chapter 18 of this story), go read it. Just read this chapter first.

 

Enough Good Left After All

By Alkeni

Chapter 18: Italicus

**May 9, 2019**

**Lower Decks, The Illiad**

Kara had been in this situation - or ones close to it - enough times to be able to stay calm. Mostly calm, anyway since a gun was being pressed to the back of her neck.

“Italicus, I’m guessing?” Kara offered, taking a slow breath, careful not to make any sudden moves that might provoke a gunshot. 

“I always hated that codename,” the man behind her replied. “Stupid, and too on the nose. But I suppose no one at Hydra Central Command really has creativity when it comes to names. The whole operation that put me on this boat was called Project Trojan Horse.” Italicus chuckled. 

Kara blinked. “Not that I’m objecting, but is there a reason you haven’t killed me yet?”  _ Hydra Central Command? _ Was that what it was actually called, or was Italicus just snarky about his own bosses? Kara closed her eyes, taking another slow breath. She just needed to be ready to move without him realizing it. One false move and she was dead before she had a chance.

“Because I’d rather like to savor this - having you at my mercy - before I kill you. You have, after all, made it more or less impossible for me to continue my infiltration here. It’s honestly rather refreshing. You have no idea how hard it is to maintain this sort of long-term infiltration. You’re always so… in and out with your efforts. A few weeks at most, and you don’t even need to keep your cover. I’ve been at this for months and having far more covers than I really could keep track of.” Kara wanted to roll her eyes. Was there something in the Hydra Membership Contract that made everyone want to monologue their way into their own defeats? 

The number of Hydra or Hydra-allied people who had been defeated only because they couldn’t just shut the fuck up was staggering, and this guy was going to be another one on the list… hopefully. 

_ The other option is he kills me and Skye and Grant don’t notice because they’re too busy making out to realize I’m fucking dead. _

“Well, what can I say? I like to ruin Hydra’s day.” Kara gagged a little as she realized she’d just rhymed. “That was unintentional, by the way.”

“I imagined so. Attempted poetry is not exactly one of your resume items, Agent 33. And if you’re contemplating some sort of stratagem where you spin around, grab the gun - or at least knock it away from your body - and attack me with her fists and feet, please bear in mind I have a second gun in my other hand.” For a brief second, he pressed another gun against her lower right back, then pulled it away from her skin. 

_ Fuck. _ That made things harder.

“You certainly know how to come prepared,” Kara replied, keeping her voice cool despite the ratcheted up risk. “But aren’t you a little bit worried I’m going to give you the beat down you so richly deserve?”

“Your reputation precedes you, Agent 33.” Again with the 33.  _ My name is Kara, you Hydra moron.  _ “But you’re not that good. And your friends are rather busy making up for lost time, I would say. The infamous Grant Ward making things up with his lady love Skye. It almost brings a tear to the eye. Well, not yours, I suppose. Makes you want to vomit, I’d guess.”

“I’m not totally excited by the development, I’ll admit, but it is what it is. Not like anything’s actually going to come of it, in the long run.” Kara had no idea on that one way or another, but she was keeping him talking. But she wasn’t happy with the idea of Grant and Skye kissing. Because right now, it meant they couldn’t even remotely have a chance of helping her.

_ It’s not like Skye couldn’t have just used her powers to get out whenever she wanted. _ But the walls were kind of… well, sound-resistant. There was no guarantee they’d be able to notice that she was a little… preoccupied.

“Given that both of them are going to die shortly after you, I suppose you’re right,” Italicus replied. “At least they get to die happy.” She heard a finger tighten on a trigger, the gun at her neck pressing a little harder. “Now, while there is a great deal more I’d like to discuss with you, Agent 33-”

“Shut up! Just shut up!” Kara snapped, raising her voice.  _ To hell with it. _ “My name is Kara Lynn Palamas, and if you’re going to kill me, just go ahead and do it already. If I have to listen to your inane prattle for a minute longer, I’ll grab that gun and shoot myself with it!” The smugness in Italicus’ voice was enough to make anyone want to shoot themselves. It was like Coulson on one of his most self-important days combined with Agent Morse’s tone when she insisted she made the ‘hard call’. After dealing with a metric ton of smug, dying really did seem more appealing.

“Well, I suppose if you’re absolutely sure,  _ Kara _ ,” Kara closed her eyes. She wasn’t going to to her death-

Before she could complete the thought, before she could get shot, the floor, the walls, the entire hallway started to shake. Kara lost her footing, dropping to the ground as the shaking intensified. She heard a gunshot and a loud thud behind her as Italicus dropped to the ground behind her, losing his footing just as much as she had. Staggering to her feet - and falling back over onto her ass - Kara looked at the tablet. How had Skye known? 

“Please tell me this is you Skye,” Kara muttered, bringing the camera up. She really didn’t want to find out the whole ship was about to sink or something.

“Yeah, of course it’s me, you think I don’t bug my own tablet?” Skye said, her hand pointing at the floor. “Seriously Palamas, you have  _ so much _ to learn about how I do things in the field.”

“I could kiss you right now, if Grant hadn’t taken that job for me already,” Kara muttered. She looked and saw Italicus struggling to his feet.

Her feet.

Italicus was a woman. A tall, somewhat muscular and not especially well-endowed woman, but a woman nonetheless.  _ Some kind of voice scrambler? Why pretend? _

But like Kara, Italicus was having trouble getting on and then staying on her feet. 

Kara pulled out her ICER and tried to aim it at Italicus. The other woman did the same thing with her gun - the other one had slipped her grip and was rolling around on the floor - but as they both fired several shots in quick succession, they found that they couldn’t aim very well when everything around them was moving.

“Just let us out!” Skye yelled, her words sounding more frustrated than angry. “I can’t keep this up for much longer. “ That was when Kara noticed the slight trickle of blood coming out of Skye’s nose. Firing several more shots to keep Italicus’ head down, Kara half-crawled, half-lurched to the door to the storage closet, sliding her keycard through the slot and letting the door click open.

As suddenly as the hall had started to shake, it stopped, and Skye and Grant were rushing out of the room, both with their weapons drawn and pointed at Italicus.

Kara climbed to her feet, still dizzy and got a good look at the spy. The woman wore full-length clothes that left none of her skin exposed. Even her hands were covered in gloves… then Kara blinked as she got a second look at them. She recognized them, at least, the theory.  Right now, they were ‘off’, leaving the Spy’s hands looking like they were wearing tight grey gloves.

The mask could change the skintone of her face, but not the rest of her. So if she took on the identity of someone with a substantially different skin tone, she had to be very careful not to let someone see even her hands. The techs had told her they were designing gloves that would look and feel exactly like skin and have technology similar - but not as precise - to that of her nanomask. It would allow her to at least not have to wear gloves when under cover - something that often threatened her cover. The gloves hadn’t been finished yet.

_ Looks like Hydra beat us to it. _

Kara could see how the spy was well poised to pretend to be anyone though. Her build meant she could pretend to be a man pretty easily, and, while her height might make it harder to masquerade as some of the women on this carrier, she could easily pull off taller women like Agent Morse.

“I suppose you think you’re going to take me alive?” Italicus sat up slowly, keeping her hands visible. Her voice, incongruously, still sounded male. It was just a little bit off-putting. Which was probably why she still had it running. 

“That was kind of the idea,” Skye agreed, firing her ICER twice. Both bullets hit Italicus - one in the shoulder and one in the torso- and began breaking up under her skin immediately, bits of blue spreading as the dendrotoxin was released. Italicus gasped in pain, doubling over. But that was the only thing that went right.

Italicus didn’t collapse. Instead, she just reached up to her shoulder and started rubbing it where she’d been shot. “These things hurt almost as much as getting actually shot. Seriously.  _ Fuck, _ they hurt!”

Kara blinked, then blinked again. That… was not supposed to be happening.

“You didn’t think Hydra would  _ never _ figure out a antiserum to Dr. Simmons’s dendrotoxin, did you? God, how have we not won already?  _ Jesus _ that really really hurts. How do these things not make people bleed? We still haven’t figured that one out.”

“This - this-” Skye was at a loss for words, and honestly, Kara was as well. Italicus was… not at all what she had expected. Utterly unflappable, immune to ICERs and… this was not how things were supposed to work in the real world.  _ Didn’t reality go out to lunch seven years ago though? _

“I don’t need an ICER to make sure you’re taken alive,” Grant told Italicus, approaching her slowly, his very real gun still aiming at her. “I can take out your kneecaps and go from there,” Grant kept his gun on her as he crouched, looking her in the eye. “I’m not generally one for torture, but please understand that I  _ will  _ get what I need to know out of you.” Kara felt a small chill go down her spine at the honesty in his tone, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Skye grimace and even flinch a little.

_ Probably wondering how she could have just kissed him. _

“You might. But the thing about torture is that it takes  _ time. _ And while you guys have obviously figured out I don’t have a suicide capsule in my mouth, you’re underestimating how hard it will be to break me.” Kara watched Italicus speak. If this spy was inclined to kill herself out of loyalty to Hydra, she’d have probably done it already. She was obviously angling to either escape or make a deal of some kind.

“I know exactly where your little girl is, Grant Ward,” Italicus replied. “I know exactly when Dr. Frist is going to arrive and start taking her apart, piece by piece. You don’t have a lot of time… but you have some. I suppose the question is: can you break me before she d-” 

The sound of a gunshot ripped through the air. For a split second, Kara thought Grant had shot the spy, but then she realized that Italicus was uninjured. Grant must have shot over her head, intending to shut her up. 

Kara looked over at Skye. “Keep an eye on Grant.” She didn’t need him firing another warning shot or actually killing Italicus. The spy’s attitude was clearly grating on the nerves of still-barely-holding-it-together Grant. She walked up to Italicus and pulled Grant up to his feet. 

“You, stay back,” she said, pushing him away.He didn’t try to stop her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Skye grab Grant and pull him back. There was something in the way he immediately lost a tiny bit of tension in his stance at her touch…

Even after so many years, after so much…hey were still almost instinctively comfortable around each other. 

_ I suppose I never really did have a chance. Ah well. _ The disappointment she was feeling was more of lost opportunities than a genuine feeling of rejection. But even that disappointment was starting to vanish now that she could see them in action, even in that tiny bit of their kiss she’d watched…

Kara looked at Italicus. “Now, you clearly want a deal of some kind, right?”

“It crossed my mind that you might be willing to offer me one. I’m as much Hail Hydra as the next person, but-”

Kara wanted to pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration, but managed to stop herself. “Take the voice synthetisizer out, Italicus.”

“You are  _ no _ fun.” Italicus opened her mouth and pulled the device out from the left side of her mouth, dropping the saliva-covered thing onto the metal floor. “Fine.Now, as I was saying, yes, I’m loyal to Hydra, but I’m also loyal to myself. And at this point, I win. So, you guarantee me a very safe, comfortable house arrest, and I tell you what you want to know.”

“And I’m just supposed to trust you?” Kara flipped her ICER so she was holding onto the barrel, tapping the butt of the gun against her leg lightly. “For that matter, you’re supposed to trust  _ my _ word?”

“Well, it’s trust your word or settle for a dark five-by-five cell for the rest of my natural life, and that doesn’t sound any better.” Italicus shrugged grandly. “I’m a pragmatist, and while I can’t be ICED, there’s three of you and one of you has those freaky vibration powers. And now that the whole ship is locked down, it’s only a matter of time before I get caught anyway. So…”

“Get to the point. Where is Rachel?”

“I want your word first. I tell you what you want to know, and you make sure I get a comfortable house arrest. Or at least, like, comfortable apartment arrest. Somewhere without too much sun and good delivery pizza, if possible. I’ve been living off of MREs and prepackaged crap for months now.”

Kara blinked. This whole experience was feeling very surreal. She could barely believe she could be here, listening to a Hydra operative being so willing to sell out and dickering about access to pizza. How had someone so talkative and so apparently… flexible ended up being trusted enough for a mission like this from Hydra?

“And I want to know why I should be expected to believe you,” Kara said reaching down, grabbing Italicus by the front of her shirt, pulling her to her feet. With a quick motion, she was pushing Italicus against the wall, leaning in close to the other woman. “I want to know why I shouldn’t find some loose electrical wires and apply them to your face. I want to know why I shouldn’t just let Grant torture you on general principle. I want to know you aren’t just lying to save your skin. You might have no idea where Rachel is. I want to know  _ why _ you’re so eager to betray Hydra.”

Italicus licked her lips slowly, as if they were dry suddenly. “You make a fair case. I’d really rather not have this thing stuck on me forever. Almost makes me feel sorry for you, actually.” For once, her words weren’t snarky and smug, but rather almost genuine. “I’m willing to give you what you want to know because I don’t really work for Frist. My loyalties were to what you guys call Hydra 3.0. All this crazy power shit is just that, crazy. Hydra doesn’t need freaks to take over the world.” She heard Grant let out what could only be called a growl at the intimation that his daughter was a freak, but the word was said without any scorn, just a… statement. Matter of fact. There was no heat in her words.

“I’m willing to tell you want you want to know because I like being alive and, with my mission failed and with a chance to stab Frist in the back on the table, I’m very eager to make a deal. I’m willing to tell you what you want to know because, in all honesty, I can probably eventually escape whatever you put me in, even a tiny little cell in a basement somewhere. But in the meantime, I’ll be very safe from Frist and company trying to kill me for daring to get caught and not use the suicide capsules.”

Kara looked Italicus in the eyes. The words were delivered in a casual tone, without even a slight hint of smug, but there was a small light in the woman’s eyes - for lack of a better way of putting it - that almost blazed with a genuine scorn for Frist.

“Alright then.” Kara stepped back a pace. “Start by taking off the mask,” Maybe if S.H.I.E.L.D. had a separate device… they could finally find a way to take the one she was wearing off. Kara refused to let herself hope, but… 

“Do it slowly. No sudden moves.” She gestured to Skye and Grant. “Shoot her or vibrate her or something if she so much as twitches the wrong way.” Kara was watching Italicus as well, but mostly her gaze was on the woman’s face. She hadn’t truly seen a nano-mask come off in her entire life. She wanted to look away, not watch what she couldn’t have, but she also wanted something different as well.

There was a need in her, an almost voyeuristic urge, to see a nano-mask come off. To experience vicariously what she couldn’t. To prove that it was even possible for one to come off.

Smirking slightly, Italicus reached up to her forehead and started to peel away at her skin. For half a second, that’s exactly what it looked like - ripping away her skin. But as the mask started to return to it’s natural silver-grey color, looking like a semi-solid liquid than a true physical object, a normal face, exactly like the one that Italicus had displayed before, was revealed. 

A face that wasn’t scarred, that wasn’t damaged, that wasn’t a horrifying thing to see in the mirror, wasn’t a horrifying thing one desperately wanted to forget.

Kara forced herself to watch, stopping herself from looking away. Her free hand was balled into a tight fist, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood… she even felt bile rising in her throat, as she saw what she could never have, saw how effortlessly Italicus was taking off the mask, and she felt a dark rage burn in her at the injustice of the universe.

When Italicus finished taking off the mask, Kara ripped it from the woman’s hand. She stepped away from the spy, trusting Skye and Grant to keep an eye on her… she couldn’t keep the bile down…

Staggering a few steps down the hall, Kara doubled over, spitting out the blood that had gotten into her mouth from biting her lip and then…

With a heaving exhalation, Kara tasted her bile as she started to empty her stomach - she hadn’t eaten much over the last day, but what she had was leaving her far quicker than it had gone in. The stench was enough to burn her nostrils and it caused her to heave again. More came out, mostly liquid this time, the semi-clear gunk clinging to her lips enough that she had to wipe it away with her sleeve. 

The third heave didn’t actually do anything, but she stayed doubled over, feeling like she was still about to vomit more, for several moments longer.

She felt a hand on her back, just sort of a general supportive presence - at first she thought it was Grant’s, but she realized the hand was too small to be his. Sucking in a deep breath, disgusted at how even the air tasted of bile now, especially after it passed into her mouth, Kara slowly straightened up, taking several more breaths, grimacing each time.

“Well, at least you killed the mood with-,” Italicus started, but before she could finish her thought, Skye was on the spy, pushing her against the wall just like Kara had.

“You’re going to want drop the attitude, buddy,” Skye said flatly. “You have your fucking deal. You’re going to tell us where Rachel is, and then you’re going to shut up. No more snark, no more trying to get at Kara, and definitely no more trying to get at Ward. You’ll get your nice, comfortable cell, with amenities and all, but you’re also going to be spilling your guts, and if you don’t, we’ll toss you in a place we like to call Vault D.”

“And no matter how good you are,” Grant said, approaching Italicus, “You won’t be escaping that.” He pointed his gun at the spy’s knees as Skye took a small step back. “Talk.”

Italicus opened her mouth, and Skye waved her hand a little, making the room vibrate just a tiny bit. Inhaling sharply, Italicus spoke: “Rachel was taken to Frist’s lab in the Maldives. It’s the one that specializes in experimenting on prisoners or the unwilling. He’ll be there in just under twenty hours.”

Knowing where Rachel was taken… that wasn’t impossible for Italicus to know. Especially if he actually had a dedicated lab just for ‘prisoners and the unwilling’. But how would she know when Frist was going to be there? That wasn’t the kind of information a spy should have.

“And just how do you know about that part? For that matter, how do you have this job if you hate Frist this much?” Kara demanded.

“Because I’m loyal to Hydra. Not all of us are mindless zealots though. If he thought it would save his skin, Frist would sell out every operative and base he knew of.”  _ That won’t save his skin at all. _ Kara had no intention of stopping Frist from dying. It would be a quick death - Kara planned on making sure of that - but Frist was not getting out of this alive. Even if Grant didn’t end up doing the killing. 

“As for how I know,” Italicus continued, “I know because Frist demanded that all his top-level operatives be there when he gets there. He’s going to perfect his powered warriors with almost all the heads of Hydra there to watch him cement his triumph.”

Kara blinked. “You’re telling me that the majority of Hydra’s leadership is going to be in one place, at one time?”  _ Almost all the heads. That means a lot of security. That means a lot of people to get through. _

But it also represented a tantalizing target.

Which meant they could probably convince Coulson to commit more resources to this.

“It’s the most secure facility Hydra has,” Italicus replied. “And Frist has no choice but to do this. He may be the guy running the show right now but, I can promise you, not everyone wants to keep it that way. I’m not alone in my disdain for the man. Hydra will win, but if you guys do your job, it won’t be Frist and his cronies.”

“You’re really confident that you’ll escape sooner or later.” Skye pointed out. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that or of Hydra’s victory.”

“Cut off one head and two more take its place,” Italicus replied confidently. “You can’t kill something that never dies.” 


	19. So...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own Agents of S.H.I. . for extremely regrettable reasons. If someone wants to help me steal the good parts of the show (the crap parts can be left behind to rot), let me know.
> 
> Thanks to Riley Holden/colormeblue for beta-reading services. As always, she makes this fic about twice as good and fifteen times more readable.

Enough Good Left After All

By Alkeni

Chapter 19: So...

**May 9** **th** **,** **2019**

**Comm Room, The** _**Iliad** _

"Let me get this straight: you found Italicus, and not only managed to get her to talk but got her to tell you not only the location of Ward's daughter but also that this location is going to hold most of the heads of Hydra in less than twenty hours?" Coulson pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to need a drink. Or five."

"Well, save it for _after_ you send every Quinjet and every spare agent you have to the Maldives, Coulson. And I did nearly die, so it wasn't easy." Kara rolled her eyes at the Director. "The three of us aren't going to be able to crack this base alone. I'm pretty sure it's time S.H.I.E.L.D. went to war."

"Even with Quinjets, I can only get so many people to the Maldives in time, Agent Palamas," Coulson pointed out. Kara clenched her jaw but nodded. Quinjets were one of the fastest manned vehicles on Earth. But even they could only move so fast. Any assets in the Western Hemisphere were basically useless at this point. Thankfully, the _Illiad_ was close enough that it's assets could be deployed against the Maldives. But it would still take them three hours to get into position from here.

"I am ordering Agent Morse to support your attack and I'm contacting our agents all over the Indian Ocean to send what they can but I don't have a limitless supply of Quinjets or agents capable of engaging in a full-scale assault. I can't promise you more than a hundred people, and that's leaving us pretty exposed all over the globe. And if they have air defenses of any strength..."

"From what Italicus says, they do, but they're also vulnerable. Frist has them all on one central control network. It lets him coordinate for defense against multiple attacks but it also makes them vulnerable to a single attack. What we're hoping to do is for Grant, Skye and myself to get inside the base, tag that central node and let the Quinjets take it out in one massed bombing run. That should be enough to bust through whatever defense is around it and leave the base open for a full assault." Kara crossed her fingers as she said that, hoping like hell that it was a sound plan.

"Not a very creative plan. We've done this before, you know, in Antarctica," Coulson replied.

"Not quite, but close, yes." From what she'd heard, they'd disabled the guns before the bombing in Antarctica but it was the same idea. "Our plan doesn't rely on destroying a plane and hoping they mistake us for debris though. That wouldn't work anyway – we don't have any equivalent of Bakshi on the inside this time."

A thought occurred to Kara and she narrowed her eyes glaring at Coulson through the screen. "And speaking of Bakshi..."

"Fitz and Simmons will be far, far from this operation and from Ward. If the base is taken at all intact, they may be part of the team that goes into analyze any data or tech we find but we can make sure Ward and his daughter are well out of their reach." Coulson sounded resigned.

He continued:"While we're on the subject, how exactly do you plan to get into the base? They'll have cloaking detection so their defenses will take you down-"

"Italicus provided us with a code-sign that, if we broadcast it on the correct frequency, should be able to get us in. Of course, that's assuming Italicus has been telling the truth, which I'm inclined to believe. She really hates Dr. Frist." And really didn't like the idea of Hydra relying on powered people.

That fit with everything Kara knew about the various 'versions' of Hydra that had risen. From what she could figure, Alexander Pierce had been most concerned with standard geopolitical dominance,. Strucker, List and Whitehall were more interested in people with powers, with... well, for lack of a better word, 'supermen'. It seemed like that was some sort of holdover Nazi idea of the Ubermensch, or something. Hydra 3.0.- what Italicus had been part of- had been obsessed with super-science, advanced weapons and more traditional terrorist and criminal activity. And then there was this version. It sounded like a throwback to Strucker's Hydra but, unlike him, Frist had actually succeeded in creating powered people.

_And if we don't save Rachel, not only will Grant lose his daughter, but Frist will have everything he needs to make sure his powered warriors don't collapse into goo. Fun._

"If that doesn't work, there's a back up plan." Kara added.

Coulson's eyes narrowed. "What sort of plan? There's a reason you didn't volunteer it. I'm not going to like it, am I?"

"You're right, there is." Kara nodded. "You're not going to like it. And that reason still stands. Just make sure you send as many people as you can, Director. Palamas out." Kara pressed a button and ended the call. The last thing she wanted to explain to the Director was Skye's idea that Grant could suggest he was there to trade Skye for his daughter. Hydra wouldn't make the trade - they all could guess that much now - but Skye pointed out that Hydra would still want her.

So they would at least let the quinjet land before they took Skye for experimentation and killed everyone else on board.

Having it out with each other and then making out really seemed to have worked wonders for increasing Skye and Grant's trust in each other. It was kind of... well, nuts, actually.

"Much as I hate to say it, that was probably a good idea," Skye said from behind her. "DC is... well, he wasn't surprised I came out here to help you and Ward save his daughter, but... well, I think he was really hoping I'd leave it all well enough alone. And... please, _please_ don't mention..." she flushed a little, "the whole... storage room thing to Coulson."

Kara raised an eyebrow. "You mean the part where you and Grant admitted to each other that, despite everything, you're both still hopelessly in love and then made out like teenagers after homecoming?"

"Ward and I did not 'make out like teenagers after homecoming!'" Skye protested, flinching a little as she realized she'd raised her voice. Agent Morse's people were out of the room, cleared to give her privacy when talking with Coulson, but still.

Kara could imagine Skye didn't want the fact that she'd sucked face with the guy who had once been S.H.I.E.L.D's Public Enemy No. 1 to be widely known.

For the briefest of seconds, Kara considered then dismissed the blackmail potential. It wasn't as if Skye really had anything Kara wanted except things she couldn't give. Besides, she wouldn't do that to Grant.

"No, really, you did. I can show you the camera footage if you like. Though you might want to make sure no one else can take-"

"I've already wiped the footage from the _Illiad's_ security footage," Skye interrupted quickly, "while you were chatting with Coulson."

"Quick work andprobably a smart move. If Coulson sees that, he'll lock Grant up for daring to touch you." Kara could just imagine Coulson's reaction – he'd be furious at Grant for daring to 'corrupt' his 'little girl' or some such paternalistic bullshit. Coulson cared about Skye like a daughter, and that meant a bit of baggage, to say the least.

"It isn't DC's business who I kiss or who I ill-advisedly still love," Skye replied, her voice suddenly going ice-cold. "If he does find out and tries to start shit with me, he'll get shit right back."

Kara blinked, surprised at the sudden change Skye's tone. She stared at Skye, wordless, unable to process what she'd heard for a second. Then, "I don't... I don't think I've ever heard you – or heard _of_ you – talking like that about Coulson... or anyone, really. Not even Grant."

Skye opened her mouth, started to say something, then closed it. "This isn't really the room for a heart to heart, Kara," Skye finally said. "And we don't exactly have the time for it. We've got to get moving."

"We have an hour before leaving is feasible," Kara countered. "At least. We can't rush this. And this is a conversation I think we need to have, just like you and Grant needed to have a conversation." The Quinjet needed to be fueled up and double-checked since everything needed to be just right. And it wouldn't do to leave too far ahead of everyone else who was going to follow behind.

"And for that matter, you and Grant need to talk more, but that might end up having to wait."

Skye stared at her for a long moment, her mouth a thin line. "You're going to keep at this until we leave, aren't you?"

Kara nodded. "I'll keep at this while we're being shot at. I can multitask. We need to have a talk about Grant."

"Fine. But not here."

**May 9** **th** **, 2019**

**Empty Bunks, The** _**Iliad** _

Kara locked the door behind her, watching Skye disable the cameras in the room with a few taps on her tablet. On the one hand, it really shouldn't be that easy for her to hack in and do that.

On the other hand, Skye had a hand in developing almost every part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network and cyber- security. So she knew exactly how to get around it.

"We good?" Kara leaned back against the door, her arms crossed.

"No one is going to hear us talk," Skye confirmed. "So what the hell do you want to know, then?" Kara blinked and raised an eyebrow, wondering at Skye's hostility. The hacker let out a sigh. "Ward's a touchy subject at the best of times, and this... isn't the best of times."

Skye took a deep breath. "Alright. Fuck it. Even if I don't really want to talk about it with you, you're really the only person I can. If I even _thought_ about talking about this with Fitz or Simmons, they'd check me into the nuthouse and May would give me a death glare powerful enough to _actually_ kill me." Skye scoffed. "Maybe I _should_ consider an insane asylum."

"Because you still love Grant?" That was all kinds of insane – for both of them.

Skye shook her head. "No. You can't control who you love. Doesn't make you insane if you're in love with someone you shouldn't be." Skye clenched her hands into fists, hitting one against her leg several times as she bit her lip. Finally she went on, "I'm kind of insane because part of me wants to... _try again_ with him."

Kara almost tripped and fell while standing still. _What?_ She coughed loudly, clearing her throat several times. "You..." She swallowed and tried again. "You want... you want to try again? Like... dating him?"

"Yeah. I want to get to know the Grant Ward who has been raising a daughter for four years. I want to get to know the real Ward, without any Hydra or S.H.I.E.L.D. in the way. I want to get to know the guy I love all over again, and then, if it's at all possible, I want to have a life with him. How that's for completely insane?" Though she kept the volume of her voice low, the pitch increased to frantic levels by the end.

Kara stared at Skye for a long moment. "On the one hand... pretty insane, I suppose." Everything about Skye and Grant still loving each other was nuts especially since Kara doubted Skye had magically resolved all her trust issues with Grant throughone kiss and one heart to heart.

But... love was love, wasn't it? And wanting to be with the person you loved was... natural. Human. And Grant was worth it. Objectively, he was a pretty great guy, as far as Kara was concerned. Skye could do worse... and...

_If they could make it work..._ She knew it would make Grant happy. And... it would make Skye happy. But make it work was pretty big and complicated. Grant had Rachel to worry about, and, as much as he loved Skye, Kara doubted he'd ever put his daughter second. And Skye... well, if the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. ever found out...

"But on the other hand... well, you know that I'm on Grant's side. He's a good man." Kara raised a hand. "Yeah, I know, it's not that simple. You still don't trust him." _Maybe I should change my job title to relationship counselor._

"Not completely, no. Not enough. But..." Skye looked down at the ground, shuffling her feet. "I still love him. And... knowing what I know now, seeing what he's like now, knowing what you've told me about him...I started to wonder."

Kara inhaled slowly. "Wonder?"

Skye nodded. She let out a long sigh and swallowed before going on: "There was a time, back when we had him in Vault D, when I considered hearing him out, you know? Actually sitting down in that chair in front of the force field and just... hearing the whole story. Beginning to end. Get the full _why_ of everything. See if there really was anything of the guy I'd known on that Bus for months, or if it really was all just an act. If he really did love me or if he was playing me. You heard my... heart to heart with him, so... you know how I was feeling then."

Kara nodded. "You were wondering if you were as 'evil' as he was for loving him. You wanted to make him hate you so you could stop loving him and all that. Yeah. I heard. So you had all that _and_ part of you wanted to forgive him?"

Skye shook her head and moved over to one of the bunks sitting down on it heavily.

"Not exactly forgive him. Not then. But... part of me wanted to... I don't know. Start over?" Skye dropped her head into her hands. "I need a drink. Or five. Since I can't do that right now, what do you say we get completely wasted after we save Rachel? Just you and me and a couple bottles of vodka?"

Kara snorted laughter then realized Skye was being serious. "Make it something tastier than vodka and sure. Given all that's happened the last few days, getting stone fucking drunk sounds appealing. But that's for after, and there's still more to say about this, isn't there?"

Skye rubbed at her temples as she glared at Kara. "Not letting this go?"

"Not even a chance." Kara confirmed. "So...?"

"What the fuck do you want me to say?!" Skye jumped to her feet. "That I was afraid how my friends, how my _family_ would react to the idea of me giving Ward even the tiniest of chances? The tiniest little opening? That if I was wrong, and that bastard burned me all over again, I'd have _nothing?_ That it was safer and easier to just keep trying to hate him, to just tell myself over and over again that it was all a complete lie? That Ward was just an evil monster and that really was all there was to it? That I _still_ have no idea what exactly I thought about him back then, because I thought so many different things at once and all of them were conflicting?! Is that what you want to hear?!" The room started to vibrate around them almost unnoticeably but it was there.

"Do you want me to say that I kind of resent Coulson just a little right now? That maybe... maybe if he'd been willing to even consider giving Ward a chance – if he'd chosen to take one of the times Ward tried to reach out seriously, that maybe I could have been happy with him? That I'm angry at myself for that? Because I am! But you want to know the really hard thing? I made my choices for me, not just for my friends." Skye reached out her arms and brought the vibrations to a halt, visibly concentrating as she spoke through partially clenched teeth. "You want to know the truth? I still have no idea what I really want. What would make me happiest. What I should do. There's no subject that gets me as messed up, confused and tied up in knots as trying to figure out what to do with how I feel about Ward. If I thought it would work, I'd just fuck him when all this was over and get him out of my system." She scoffed, then took a slow, deep breath.

"Yeah..." Kara nodded in agreement. That had about as much chance of working as Kara did of sprouting wings and flying all the way to the Maldives.

"Exactly." Skye took another breath and lowered her arms to her sides. Thankfully, the vibrations didn't resume.

With Skye's revelations, Kara could understand why she'd had that sudden uncharacteristic coldness towards Coulson. There was a lot to unpack in terms of how Skye felt about Grant, her current feelings for himand what she could do about them, if anything. They'd barely scratched the surface and somehow Kara suspected she'd be stuck playing relationship counselor to them for some time to come, even if they did the smart thing and didn't try to get together.

_After all, who else but me is Skye going to talk to about Grant? And who else can Grant talk to about Skye?_ She was the only person who knew both people, who knew enough to actually... know Grant. Few people did. Grant didn't exactly have someone in his life as Daniel Martel who he could talk about this with. Where would he even start?

"If you and Grant are both smart, when this is all done, you'll go your separate ways and have nothing to do with each other. Try to ignore the fact that you love each other and... just... live." Kara said simply. "There's way too many complications with you two... getting involved. Leaving aside the issues of trust and all that crap, Grant has a daughter. And he's going to put her first. Like he should." Skye nodded in agreement.

"And you... well, Coulson and company aren't going to just ignore you two getting together if they find out. And Grant deserves better than to be a dirty little secret."

"I deserve better than to have one." Skye said, but she nodded slowly, the regret obvious in her tone.

"But here's the problem with that plan," Kara said, rolling her eyes. "You're both idiots. If 'smart' was gonna be a thing from either of you, you both would have moved on a long time ago. I've said it before and I'll say it again: apparently you're both stupid when it comes to each other."

"So... what? We should get together? Ignore all the reasons we shouldn't? And... it's not like the fact that I still don't trust him and whatever issues he's got with me are small problems." It was obvious Skye was talking to herself as much as to Kara here.

"Not exactly... don't ignore them... just..." Kara let out a sigh and gathered her thoughts for a silent moment, then went on. "Here's the thing: you just said you regreted what happened, that you never took a chance with him when you had the opportunity. Or at least, part of you regretted it. So what do you think you'll do if you _don't_ take a chance now?"

"Regret it, obviously." Skye rolled her eyes. "I figured that part out already. But is regret really that bad?"

"That's kind of the whole point of regret, Skye. Do I need to grab a dictionary and hit you with it?" Kara stepped away from the door and started pacing. "Grant loves you, and you love him. Maybe you can't make it work. Between the issues you guys have and all the stuff beyond you, yeah, maybe it won't work. But you should try. And... the thing is..." Kara made a face before she went on.

"Look, it physically pains me to say it, but if you two can make it work, you're gonna be happy. Very. It's fucked up and weird and I'm not happy that it's a thing, but you two have the epic love that spans time and ages. The kind of love that tears down empires and all that over the top Princess Bride shit. I'm not gonna go so far to call it 'true love', but really, if you're still in love with each other after everything... well, a spade is a spade, isn't it?" Kara made the face again. "So that's my advice. When all this is done, when Rachel is safe... I dunno. Tell him the truth, that you want to try to get to know the man he is now. Or, you know, just grab him and kiss him and then ask him out on a date. Just dosomething."

Skye stared at her silently for a long moment, then finally said, "Well Kara, I hate to break it to you, but you're kind of a terrible therapist. But..." she sighed one last time. "I think you're right. Or maybe I just hope you are. Maybe I just needed you to repeat it until I got it."

"Happy to help. And bearing in mind that I'm making this offer for Grant's sake, if you need me to run interference with Coulson or anyone else in S.H.I.E.L.D., just let me know." If Skye and Grant could make things work... well, they'd be happy and Grant being happy was important. He deserved to be happy with the woman he loved.

Skye chuckled genuinely, "Trust me, I'd never imagine you were doing it for me." She let out a deep breath, then started for the door. "Alright. We've got a plane to catch and a little girl to rescue. Shall we?"


	20. Trojan Quinjet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Although the Framework Episode does remind me of an AU I thought up… :P
> 
> **Author’s Note:** I’m finally back in the fic groove! Yay! Hopefully I’ll be putting chapters for things out at a good pace, going forward. We’ll see.
> 
> The hacking in this fic is about as realistic as the stuff we see in the show.

 

Enough Good Left After All

By Alkeni

Chapter 20: Trojan Quinjet

**May 9** **th** **, 2019**

**Quinjet En Route to the Maldives Hydra Base**

It was only by years of experience as a specialist that Kara’s body wasn’t sore from being tense the last two hours.  Her mind wasn't relaxed, but she had been able to force her body to, as she sat in the co-pilot's seat next to Grant.

Closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath, Kara looked at the pistol in her hand, pulling the clip out of the gun and checking it again, before shoving it back in. They’d brought a veritable armory of explosives and guns onto the quinjet.

“What do you think the odds are that this is going to work?” Kara asked softly. “The code-word Italicus gave us, I mean?”

“40-60, against,” Grant said after a moment’s thought. “Speaking of, set the radio to the right frequency, and let’s get ready.”

Kara frowned and looked down at the voice-synthesizer in her hand – same design as the one Italicus had used. With any luck, it would trick them into thinking it really was Italicus on the other end of the line. Carefully, she inserted it into her mouth. This part was always a little uncomfortable.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure it will work," Skye piped in from the back of the jet. "Assuming Italicus was telling us the truth anyway, which is a bit of an assumption, but yeah, if it's the right code-word, we'll be able to land without a problem. The real question is whether we can fight our way to a place where we can tag the defense grid controls. Because if I'm a control-freak who wants to be able to manage all the defenses of my secret base from one server and through one single network, I'm sure as hell going to make sure that I don't connect that server to the main base network." Kara looked back to see Skye pacing.

"So what, we need to fight our way to his office or something?" Grant shrugged. "That makes as much sense as anything else."

"Yeah, but the whole reason we're going for the defense grid first is so that all those agents Coulson is sending in as backup can land. And we'd need that kind of manpower to fight our way to the office."

"But even if I pretend to have taken you captive," Grant nodded, "Hydra still won't take me to Frist's office or wherever the defenses really are being controlled." He let out an angry sigh, nearly letting his control of the stick slip. "So what the hell do we do?"

"Trick the base's security systems into activating their own version of the Odyssey Protocol," Skye said carefully. "That's something I can do if I can get to their network."

Kara nodded, seeing Grant do the same thing out of the corner of her eye. Hydra didn't want people stealing their data when a base was captured. So they had their own ways of wiping files and rendering them irrecoverable. One of Hydra's favorites was a directed EMP against their own systems. Usually it was set so it would fry the equipment of anyone trying to capture the equipment as well.

Kara remembered how pissed off Skye had been when her hacking attempts at one captured base had been detected by the system and set off the EMP, frying all the equipment she'd brought in to do the hacking.

"Don't they prime that to go off only when they're abandoning the base? Otherwise someone entering the wrong password two or three times could destroy everything," Kara pointed out.

"Yeah, but I think I can spoof that. I'll just need..." Skye frowned. "Well, we'll probably need a hand and an eyeball. Preferably still attached to their owners if we can manage that much. We need the system to  _ think _ the protocol is primed and that means we'll probably need retinal and fingerprint scans."

"Well, let's hope we don't have to rip anyone's eyes out," Kara always knew that might be a possibility. Retinal scan security and all that. Fortunately, it had never been something she'd  _ had _ to do.

"If we need it done, I can do it," Grant said tersely. "Set the frequency, we're nearly there." Kara nodded and set the radio to the proper frequency.

According to Italicus, there wouldn't be any challenge as they drew near the island. If the signal wasn't given, the plane would be blown out of the sky. Kara could only assume that Hydra had paid or threatened (or both) the local authorities in the Maldives to make sure commercial flights didn't get to close to this island.

"Ready to begin on your mark," Kara said, watching Grant. He was silent for a minute, then nodded, starting to bring the quinjet down. Speaking into the radio, Kara activated the modulator and began speaking.

"Tiamat Base, this is Italicus, authorization code 183492658-Beta-Omega-Zulu-12. I am returning to Babylon." Proving just how grandiose he was, Frist had apparently named the base after the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of primordial chaos. A bit of an odd choice, but there it was. Returning to Babylon was supposed to signify that Italicus' cover was blown and that was why she was coming back.

"I repeat, Tiamat Base, this is Italicus, authorization code 1834-"

"Italicus, this is Tiamat. We read you," a French-accented voice replied over the radio. "Authorization accepted and registered. Returning to Babylon noted. Stand by for dustoff when you land."

"Acknowledged, Tiamat." Kara turned off the radio and turned to Grant. "How the hell did that work?"

"Either Italicus told us the truth or we just gave them the 'I'm lying, please be ready to detain and torture us' code," Grant suggested.

"Does Hydra even have one of those?" Skye offered skeptically.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. used to have several," Grant pointed out. "Usually without the torture but Hydra doesn't have the same scruples. And a man with Frist's reputation has even less."

**May 9th, 2019**

**Landing Bay, Tiamat Base**

The guards on the landing strip hadn't been expecting them but they'd shown admirably quick response to the sudden intrusion of three people who were  _ not _ the agent they were expecting. Just not quick enough.

Within five minutes, twelve guards and two mechanics were dead, their bodies strewn around the hangar full of quinjets.

Of course, the three of them  _ hadn't _ moved fast enough to deal with the alarm which was already blaring in their ears. That was, unfortunately, to be expected.

Kara dropped her empty shotgun, grabbing a discarded submachine gun and clips from a dead guard. "Let's go. We need to move and fast."

"Yeah, but where?"

"Anywhere with direct access to the base's computers," Skye answered Grant, coming back out of the Quinjet, slinging a bag of equipment over her back. "Any direction should do."

Moving quickly to the far end of the hangar, Kara took a position on one side of the sealed door with Skye on the other. With a nod to Grant, a microcharge was placed on the door and as soon as it blew, Grant was kicking it out of the frame, coming in shooting, a pistol in each hand.

Two more dead Hydra Agents.

Kara moved ahead, ducking behind a corner as a spray of bullets almost riddled her. She looked back to Grant. "Grenade." Nodding, Grant pulled one off his tactical vest and tossed it to her. In a single smooth motion, she caught it, pulled the pin and tossed it down the protected hallway. Peeking around the corner, she found another dead body - and saw five more agents coming down the hall towards them.

"Skye, tell me this base has wireless, because at this rate, we're going to be overrun by numbers before we can get to anywhere that has a computer!" Kara shouted angrily.

"This isn't a coffee shop! I can't just use the local wifi!" Skye retorted, quickly running to the other side of the hallway entrance just before the five guards started to open fire, spraying bullets down the hallway with no regard to how much ammunition they wasted, or if they weren't going to hit people who weren't in their path.

_ They're just trying to pin us down until more reinforcements arrive.  _ And their own reinforcements were on their way. Those quinjets full of agents prepped, equipped and trained for full tactical assault would be greeted by a base that still had active defenses.

Kara gestured to Skye, unable to be heard over the sound of the bullets as they spat out of their guns and into the wall. Skye just stared at her blankly.

_ Use your fucking powers and get those bullets stopped for just a few seconds. Give me an opening! _ Most of the explosives they had larger than microcharges were too large or just not designed for throwing down a hallway to clear out defenders. But they had a few. And Kara in particular had brought two White Phosphorous grenades which were much more advanced than any that would be available on the open market.

She'd called in a favor with one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s weapon's scientists (not nearly as squeamish when it came to weapons of death as Fitzsimmons) to design them. Of course, now that they were made, anyone could requisition them but Kara was one of the few agents willing to actually take that option - burning Hydra operatives alive. 

_ It's the only way to deal with these monsters sometimes. Death is the only language they understand. _ There was a small part of her that had a visceral glee at the idea of what the grenades could do to Hydra operatives, but even more, it was just a weapon that had to be used, sometimes. Against Hydra... however destructive, you needed to do what you had to to win, and accept the moral costs to yourself.

But she needed an opening.

Pantomiming some more, Kara held her hand out flat, then moved it forward, trying to get her point across. After a few seconds, Skye realized what she meant. Kara took a step back and watched as Skye reached her hand out, aiming at the ground a second, the air shimmering in front of her, the ground starting to shake.

Then Skye held her hand out in front of her, sending waves of vibrations up against the bullets, holding them (almost) in place. Kara could see the strain as sweat started to bead down her forehead.

"On three, get back into cover!" Kara hissed in Skye's ear as she stepped into the hallway, pulled the pin off her grenade and tossed it into the Hydra soldiers, "Three!" She dove into cover, Skye moving at the same time. The bullets Skye had been holding passed right through where she'd been moments before.

An explosion of fire and the smell of burning flesh followed the bullets. Kara clenched a hand into a fist as she wrinkled her nose against the stench.

Somehow, Kara knew she wasn't going to be able to eat Bacon, Sausage or anything else made from a pig for  _ days _ if not longer.

"Well, that shut them up. Let's get moving before more backup arrives," Kara muttered, as an alarm started to blare through the hallways, a screeching, angry sound. She stepped into the vacated hallway, covering her mouth and nose at the smoke. There was less of it than a regular White Phosphorous grenade but still quite a bit. The bodies were still burning but the fires were low enough that she could jump over them with a small running start, which she did, followed closely by Skye and Grant.

"This is going to give me lung cancer, Kara!" Skye complained as they moved out of the smoke. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I want Hydra to burn and that we needed to get through them. I have three more grenades where that came from and, next time, we're going for an even bigger demonstration." Actually, Kara had five of those grenades, but she was fairly certain they were being monitored at this point. And she wanted them to underestimate her.

"Demonstration?"

"Hydra likes to make people fear them, Skye. I like to make Hydra fear  _ me. _ " During the last incarnation, once when she was undercover at a Hydra base, she'd heard a few grunts sharing rumors about the 'dreaded' Agent 33. The face-changing woman who could be anyone, who hated anyone Hydra with the heat of a thousand sons. It had actually been kind of fun. She'd even shared a few exaggerated 'stories' of her exploits with the grunts a few days later.

"Making people afraid of you is what the bad guys do, Kara!" Skye snapped at her, even as she ducked into an alcove as three more Hydra guards carrying shotguns came into view. Kara dropped to the ground, rolled forward under their shots and came back up into a crouch shooting three shots hitting right into the stomach of one of the Hydra guards. The ground shook and the second one went crashing into the wall. Grant gave the last one a shotgun blast of his own right in the face - his head stayed intact under the force… barely.

His face on the other hand…

Kara approached the soldier she’d gotten with gutshots. Unsurprisingly, his body armor had protected him from the worst of her attack. But he was still flat on the ground, stunned for a least a few seconds. Kara pressed her pistol to his temple.

“Question: Do you want to die  _ now _ , or shall I make it take a while?”

The guard shook his head, “S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t torture.”

“I don’t have to torture you. I know how to shoot you to make your death quite agonizing. It’s not torture if I just leave you behind after shooting you.” She gave him nasty smirk to go with her words.

Before saying anything else, she half-straddled him to keep him in place, shoving her hand into his mouth to stop him from biting down on any suicide caplet. “Grant, get your pliers out and rip out his death switch, will you? Skye, would you be so kind to get your Icer ready?”

Kara ignored the pain of his teeth digging into her fingers and  the drool running over her hand. She’d dealt with worse and she couldn’t have him dying on her.

Not yet, anyway.

The cry of pain as Grant ripped the poison capsule out of the guard’s mouth was music to Kara’s ears and she moved off of him, letting Skye fire a full clip of ICERs into him. Maybe he had the antiserum Italicus had had, maybe not, but if he did, that much dendrotoxin had indeed been enough to take him out.

“Where are the rest of them?” Skye asked, as Kara and Grant lifted the guard up off the ground between them.

“Massing somewhere to come at us with overwhelming numbers and not coming at us through a hallway if whoever is running the active defense has a brain in their skull,” Kara observed. “Unless they can flank us.” She looked around the hall. No visible doors. Either this place was a deliberate maze for the sake of it or, more likely, the doors were hidden in the walls. Handing the man off to Grant entirely, she started on one side of the hall, running her hand over the seemingly plain concrete.

“Keep a watch out for more guards.” She was pretty sure her theory was correct. They’d just plowed their way through twenty-odd soldiers in less than as many minutes. Even Hydra was smart enough not to throw good soldiers after bad after a while.

Sure enough, as she felt along the wall and pressed against it, she heard the sound of metal shifting and a section of wall quickly fell into the floor, revealing a rather spacious living space. It was bigger than any of the quarters at the Playground at least. The bed looked better too.

“Hydra really does provide for the people on this base,” Skye observed. The quarters even had a few personal effects, including family photos on the desk and some knickknacks. Between those signs and the fact that the bed slightly was unmade… someone lived here. From the photos, she was fairly certain this wasn’t their prisoner’s quarters.

“Get him on the bed and cuff him,” Kara told Grant, then looked to Skye: “Do you have the other stuff? The wakey-wakey liquid or whatever they call it?” It had been a recent Simmons invention, a way to immediately (or nearly so) reverse ICER dendrotoxin so interrogations didn’t have to wait.

“I think Fitz called it F.I.R.E. Because, you know, I.C.E. Couldn’t tell you what it stands for,” Skye reached into a pocket inside her tactical vest and took out an empty syringe and a small vial. “We don’t have a lot of this stuff. Costs a fortune to make.” Nevertheless, she handed it to Kara.

**May 9th, 2019**

**Tiamat Base**

Kara’s guess had been correct: Hydra had been massing people to take them out. They discovered this as they passed through a dining hall on the way to a security room that would let Skye hack into the computers.

The threat of a lingering death had not been enough to get their temporary prisoner talking. Skye had tried to protest more than once but Kara and Grant had ignored her. This wasn’t torture. Technically. And the only reason she hadn’t shot to kill originally was to ask him questions.

Lingering death by bullet hadn’t been enough but apparently the visceral fear of being burnt alive by white phosphorous had been. With the information she’d needed at hand, a single execution-style shot to the head had been enough to deal with him.

But the thirty guards in the dining hall were all well-armed and well armored. Despite Kara’s preference, they also were a little too smart to mass themselves in one place to make it easy to deploy another White Phosporus grenade.

“Surrender yourselves and Dr. Frist might just let you live,” one of them said.

“How about Dr. Frist come out here and tell us that himself?” Grant demanded harshly, not bothering to come out from behind his cover as he said it.

“I don’t need to come into the room to speak with you, Agent Ward,” A Germanaccented voice came over the base’s intercom, cutting out the still blaring alarm. “Oh – so sorry. You’re not an Agent anymore. Not anyone, really. Just a pathetic little man with too many attachments.”

“You can’t move forward and, if you try to move back, you’ll have to break cover. And there will be more of my men coming for you shortly.” Frist continued. Out of the corner of her eye, Kara saw Skye slide down the wall a little until she was in a sitting position, her tablet in her hands.

“I don’t think now is time for a game of Angry Birds, Skye!” Kara hissed quietly. Skye ignored her.

“You know who I am. You know what I’m capable of, how I operate.” Grant went on, raising his voice. “Given that, given why we’re here, you have to know I won’t be giving up.”

“I’ll admit you had quite the formidable reputation once and, remarkably, being out of the game for four years doesn’t seem to have dulled your skills at all,” Frist observed, sounding smug. “You have indeed managed to be a minor annoyance to me. I assume Italicus defected? I never trusted that sly bitch.”

Kara blinked, “Then why the  _ hell _ did you keep her there?”

“My predecessors placed her there – and you know how the game works, Agent 33. You can never  _ really _ trust a spy. Even your own.” Kara bit her lip at his choice of title for her. It was one thing when spoken in hushed, fearful whispers.

But from this bastard?

“Are we going to chat all day or are we going to actually get to the negotiations? You know why we’re here, you evil bastard.”

“Yes, yes, you’re here to rescue the Haselrun’s project,” Frist agreed. “It occurs to me, Grant Ward – or should I say Daniel Martel? – that I don’t actually need her  _ alive _ for my experiments, now do I? Stand down.”

“I have a better idea, jackass,” Skye said with a note of final declaration as she lowered her tablet. “You can shut up!” As she said the word ‘up’ Kara heard the sound of something screeching loudly, then thirty-odd cries of pain. Peeking out from her hiding spot, she saw the guards all half-doubled over, holding onto their ears in pain. But the screeching sound was still going and Kara could hear the sound of something… several somethings... exploding…

Not waiting to find out what Skye had done, Kara – and less than a second later, Grant – started shooting at the distracted guards. They only got a few before one final crash-exploding sound resonated throughout the base, ringing in her ears.

And then the screeching stopped right along with the lights.


	21. Herr Doktor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own Agents of Shield.
> 
> **Author's Note:** Yeah, so much for regular updates. :P But I'm here. Apologizing for delays is pretty much part for the course for me by now, it seems. On the plus side, we're basically on the penultimate chapter (Though there is also an epilogue, maybe two, after the last chapter), so the end is in sight. And this one will be a major one for all kinds of developments.

 

Enough Good Left After All

By Alkeni

Chapter 21: Herr Doktor

**May 9th, 2019**

**Tiamat Base**

It took Kara about two seconds to realize what had happened.

They were in a dark room, a number of half-stunned Hydra agents ahead of them, while the entire base shut down around them. Skye must have found a way to activate the base's EMP - it was the only explanation. But the shielded, emergency lighting was no doubt about to turn on, so there was a small opening...

"Stay down!" she shouted to Grant and Skye, popping out from behind cover, firing where the Hydra soldiers had been, and hoping she'd get a few in the confusion. She couldn't tell if she was making any hits because it sounded like all the soldiers were already crying out in pain. When the emergency lighting kicked on, casting the room with a dim, reddish light, Kara got a chance to see why.

The right ear of every Hydra goon in the room was a bloody, damaged mess, and several were on the ground, gripping the sides of their heads. Some were still on their feet but distracted by their destroyed ears nonetheless. Firing off two more shots, Kara dropped behind cover and reloaded, looking to Skye.

"What the hell did you do to them?" Kara raised her voice to be heard over their pained noises and the sound of Grant starting to shoot them.

"I used their earpieces to piggy-back a signal onto the local network and then spoofed the EMP into thinking they were attacking the mainframe. That overloaded their earpieces and triggered the EMP." Skye looked down at the tablet in her hands. "Good thing I didn't bring one of my good ones." She dropped the useless hunk of circuitry onto the ground carelessly and then started to shoot at the Hydra soldiers - there were a few still standing who were finally beginning to shoot back. 

It wasn't enough to save them. In short order, they were all dead. Kara hadn't even hesitated to shoot the ones on the ground.

"Admittedly, I didn't think I was actually going to blow their earpieces up so magnificently, but there you go." Skye observed, crouching to look at the damage her hack had done to one soldier's ear, once the fighting was done. 

"We can admire your handiwork later Skye." Kara snapped, "We have to find Rachel. I'm guessing Coulson's people picked up the EMP and are moving in but this is still a big base."

"Right." Skye nodded. She stood up and shook her head."Let's go."

**May 9th, 2019**

**Tiamat Base**

The dull red glow of the emergency lights cast an almost hellish light onto everything the three of them did as they blasted their way through the halls of the Hydra base, taking out enemies like they were in a first person shooter game rather than real life. Grant took the lead with Skye and Kara backing him up. They weren’t in perfect sync with each other, but they both had plenty of experience fighting alongside Grant. Following his lead merged the three of them into almost one perfectly synchronized killing machine.

They moved quickly, checking rooms, looking for any sign of Rachel or Frist. A lab, a prison - anywhere she might be, anywhere Frist might be.

hey began hearing explosions and gunshots from elsewhere in the base, and the walls even shook at a few points. Clearly the assault teams from S.H.I.E.L.D. were on their way through the base by other means. 

That was the soundtrack that was accompanying them as Kara used another of her grenades to blow and burn through a sealed door - the electronic lock no longer working, thanks to the EMP. On the other side, though, wasn't just another room. Not an office, or a conference room, or anything else. No. 

It was a lab.

Lining the left wall were giant glass tubes holding human bodies in liquid suspension, all in various states of dissection. The greenish-blue liquid surrounding them didn't do much to distract from the disgusting horror of their skin peeled away, muscles cut and exposed, organs missing in a few places. 

On the right wall were six similarly sized tubes holding a pinkish liquid, all of them also holding people. Judging from the breathing masks on their faces which were attached to devices pulling in air from the outside, they were all alive, in some sort of suspended animation. Kara felt her throat catch for a moment, then realized none of the people inside any of the tubes, dead or alive, were children. Wherever Rachel was, she wasn't in there.

The center of the room was dominated by tables filled with computers and a host of scientific equipment. On the far wall a number of massive machines Kara couldn't begin to identify beeped, whirled and buzzed, conducting tests or whatever the hell else they were doing.

"What the hell...?" Skye lowered her gun, looking at the tubes of the living. "It's like something out of a movie. Is this where they make the powered people/"

"Correct, Agent Skye. Codename: Quake," a voice tinged with a harsh german accent cut in. From around the corner came Frist, looking just like his picture: an elderly man, glasses, almost unassuming. Short and thin, but not frail. He didn't need a cane as he approached them with purpose. He wore a black lab coat with the Hydra symbol on it in red, boldly proclaiming his status as an 'evil scientist.'

"This is my life's work. Beautiful, isn't it?" He gestured to the tubes. "It's not easy, rewriting someone's DNA to give them powers, to jump start evolution, but it is doable. And with your daughter's help... well, I'll be able to make it permanent. Stable. 

"At least," Frist said, his tone wistful, "that was the plan. I suppose between you three and the rest of your pathetic S.H.I.E.L.D. busybodies invading, I won't be able to see my latest project to fruition."

"Where is my daughter?! Where is Rachel?": Grant leveled his gun at Frist, stepping in front of Kara, blocking her own shot. Kara moved to the side, keeping her gun on the Hydra scientist.

"Grant Ward. You have proven to be quite the liability to Hydra over the years. I suppose John Garrett never should have recruited you," Frist observed calmly. "Oh, and I'd lower that gun if I were you. After all,your daughter's life hinges on my continued existence." He looked Grant in the eye, unflinching. 

"Where is she?!" Grant demanded. "What have you done with her?!"

"She's close. You'll see her soon. As for what I've done with her... not much yet, unfortunately. Promising early results, but apart from some blood tests..." Frist shrugged, "I assumed I'd have more time. Tiamat was supposed to be more secure."

"Italicus says hi, by the way." Kara cut in, unable to stop herself from smirking. "You can thank her for our timely arrival."

"Ah... dear Italicus. Never truly had the right vision." Frist shook his head. Kara watched Grant's hand tighten on his gun's trigger, tilting the handle down so it was pointed at Frist's knee. Frist held up one finger and wagged it, tutting smoothly. "Ah-ah, Mr. Ward. If you shoot me, your precious Rachel will die."

"You'll live through shot kneecaps, bastard." Grant said coldly. "Whatever contingency-"

"My contingency is simple. If my heart rate changes substantively, the deadman's switch goes off and the girl dies. Too fast, too slow - one dead little girl. Best not to make any sudden moves, any of you." He added, shooting a glance at Skye, who had been slowly inching to get around him.

"If the switch goes... well, Rachel's DNA won't be so stable anymore." He shrugged grandly, spreading his arms wide. "I'd give her three weeks to live at that point. So if you'd like to be there for any more birthdays, Mr. Ward, I suggest you lower your gun, and we can have a chat."

Grant didn't lower his gun but neither did he make any more moves to fire it. 

"Well, I suppose that's all we can expect from you." Frist shook his head. "I've looked into you, ever since you became a problem. You once showed so much promise. You could have gone far with Hydra."

"Except that he was never actually a believer, you idiot." Kara blinked when she realized that it was Skye saying that and not her. It was true and she'd told Skye that more than once, but still. 

Frist smirked. "You really think that he and John Garrett were unique, in that sense? It’s not exactly common but there are more than a few people in Hydra, even now, who don't really  _ believe. _ They all want something. And Hydra can provide." Frist looked at Grant pensively. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in that sort of arrangement again, Mr. Ward? I more or less have what I need from your daughter and, while I'd love to run more tests, my continued freedom is a little bit more important."

Frist didn't need to make the offer explicit for it to be clear what he was suggesting. Kara wasn't worried. She knew Grant would die before taking Frist up on that offer but, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Skye tense up.

This was the exact scenario she'd said, not five hours ago, that she was worried about. What lines was Grant prepared to cross for Rachel?

"Where is Rachel?" Grant demanded, sidestepping the offer. Kara watched Skye's hand tighten ever so slightly on the grip of her ICER. In the distance, the sound of an explosion went off, and then the floor underneath them shook a little. "You're running out of time, Frist," Grant added grimly. 

"I would say you are, actually, Mr. Ward," Frist pointed out. "If the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents find their way here before we reach some sort of accommodation... well, I don't think they'll be inclined to have a chat the way you are." Frist shrugged and walked over to one of the tables of lab equipment, grabbing a small remote.

Skye lowered her gun and pointed one hand at Frist, fingers curled inward a little. "If it's just your heartbeat we're worried about,  _ Herr Doctor _ ," Skye stretched the honorific out just enough to fill it with scorn, "I don't think you should consider yourself so safe." 

Frist looked at her and blinked. For a split second, Kara thought she saw a genuine look of worry in his eyes but it was gone before she could be sure. 

"You're quite confident in your abilities, Agent. I suppose we'll find out if Mr. Ward is willing to gamble his daughter's life on your control of your powers." Frist held up the remote. "Anyway, you wanted to see your daughter?" Frist pressed a button on the device, and part of the wall folded downwards, revealing a window into a small, well-furnished room living-room looking place. It had a couch, a few chairs, and a blonde little girl... playing with, of all things, a  _ cat _ . 

Rachel was sitting cross-legged on the ground, a calico cat moving back and forth in front of her, letting Rachel pet its back as it half-rubbed up against her. Sitting next to Rachel was her blue stuffed unicorn, the one Kara remembered she'd called her favorite. Albert? She didn't look remotely afraid, bothered, upset, or anything. She seemed to be having fun with petting the cat though, judging from the happy smile and giggly look on her face.

"It's been some time since my grandchildren were her age but I do remember how much they liked cats. If I'd thought about it, I'd have brought in a kitten or two, but alas, Curie hasn't been a kitten in several years." 

Judging by the complete lack of reaction from Rachel, Kara could only guess that the window was one-way, some sort of mirror or whatever on the other end. 

"You have grandchildren? What, do they have deadman's switches too?" Kara could hardly believe someone who had children, let alone grandchildren, could be the kind of experimental monster Frist was. Naive, maybe, but having kids wasn't exactly common among Hydra's leadership to begin with.

"You might not believe it, Agent 33, but I am not the monster S.H.I.E.L.D. has built me into. I merely do what is necessary to advance humanity." Frist shrugged, "Not that I expect to convince any of you. None of you have the vision to understand Hydra or my work." He looked to Grant, raising one white eyebrow. 

"This is your last chance, Mr. Ward. Sign on with Hydra again and your daughter is yours. Free and clear." 

Grant took a step towards Frist, his gun pointed at the man's chest again. "No." Grant told him, his voice firm, level, harsh. "Give me my daughter."

"So... we're never going to come to some sort of agreement. Pity." Frist considered the three of them. "We can't stand here forever, of course. And I'm not going to surrender to your custody. I have no interest in being S.H.I.E,L.D's prisoner. Which means we're at an impasse, now aren't we?"

Kara blinked, realizing what he was saying. Was Frist really implying that he was about to -

_ No. _

Kara lunged at Frist - Grant moving mere nanoseconds after her, and even Skye seemed to have realized what was about to happen. Tackling Frist to the ground, she shoved her hand into his mouth, desperate to prevent him from biting down on a poison capsule. For such an old man, he had a surprisingly strong bite, but she managed it nonetheless. 

"Grant, get that remote, find a way to get Rachel out of there!" Kara barked at him. Grant nodded, grabbed the remote and rushed to the window/mirror, trying to get it open, trying to get Rachel's attention.

Kara turned to Skye, but before she could say anything, the pressure on her hand in his mouth suddenly slackened and Frist's body went limp.

_ No. _

"No. No." Kara's heart leapt up into her throat, beating a fierce, angry tattoo as she realized what was happening. She looked at Frist's hand, and sure enough, there was a small syringe embedded in his wrist. He'd known they'd try to stop him.

And he'd been determined to have a last act of revenge. 

"No!" Kara grabbed Frist's shoulders and shook his body violently but there was no reaction. 

"Move, Kara!" Skye didn't wait for her response, and Kara found herself shoved aside, rolling, sprawling on the ground for a moment, as Skye straddled the corpse and put her hands onto his chest. For a moment, it looked like the inhuman was about to perform chest compressions, as if they'd save him, but then Kara felt the floor shaking ever so slightly, and realized what was happening.

"His heart-" Kara started, but Skye shook her head. 

"Don't distract me! Help Ward. Find out whatever Frist did to get the deadman's switch set up and get it off of her. I won't be able to do this forever." Skye looked back down at the dead doctor, obviously channeling her power into his chest to keep his heart beating.

Kara could only hope that she was managing to get it at just the right speed - not too fast, not too slow. And that they'd moved quickly enough to stop the deadman's switch from going off.

_ If we didn't... _

Kara refused to follow that train of thought as she moved over to Grant. Even as she got to him though, she saw him press a button on the remote, aiming it at the window, and she watched the wall 'sink' into the floor. Rachel turned at the sound and when it had slid down enough for her to see who was on the other side...

Rachel jumped up to her feet, the cat completely forgotten. 

"Daddy!" She rushed towards him, climbing over the wall as it continued to sink into the floor, jump at Grant, who caught her as much on instinct as conscious thought. From the look on his face, he was just a tiny bit stunned for all of a second.

"You're here! The strangers took me and I was scared but then I met this nice Doctor, and he told me I was sick and I needed medicine, and you always told me to listen to Doctors so he poked me with this needle and it hurt, but I didn't scream daddy and then he gave me a cookie and let me play with his cat! Her name is Curie! I know I asked for a puppy, but I want a cat too. Can we get a kitty daddy?! Can we? Can we?" Kara did a double take at how happy and bouncy she seemed, completely unaware of the reality of her situation. She was saying her whole immediate tirade in one breath, flooding Grant with her request for a pet cat.

_ Knowing Grant, you're more likely to get a puppy. _ But then, Kara suspected that eventually Rachel would get whichever animal she begged and pleaded for more.

"We can talk about getting you a cat later," Grant managed, adopting the same voice he'd used with her when he'd said no to giving her a double scoop - speaking as if nothing was wrong, as if everything was okay.

Kara checked on Skye out of the corner of her eye - she seemed to be handling things for the moment - but from the light sheen of sweat gathering on her forehead, she couldn't maintain this perfect control on his heart forever. 

_ I wish we could ask her how long we have... _

Grant lowered her to the ground, setting her on her feet and crouched next to her, looking her in the eyes.

"I wanna kitty now!" Rachel demanded petulantly, but then she must have realized how serious her daddy was being from the expression on his face and she nodded. "Later daddy."

"Later." Grant confirmed. "Now, this is very important. I need you to tell me everything the doctor did to you. You said he stuck you with a needle."

Rachel nodded. "He said he needed to find out what I was sick with. So he took blood. It felt weird and it hurt, but I didn't scream. I was a brave little girl daddy!" 

"Yes, you were," Grant confirmed and despite his calm, level, paternal tone, Kara could see the fear and concern in the way he was holding himself, in the way his hands were almost but not quite clenching.

"So he just took blood. And he gave you a cookie. That's it?" Grant put his hands on her shoulders, still crouched.

Ignoring Rachel's response, Kara looked over her shoulder, back towards Skye. The Inhuman's hands were still on Frist's chest, still pumping his heart for him, keeping him 'alive' as far as his deadman's switch was concerned. It wasn't glaringly obvious, but Kara could see the toll it was taking on Skye after just a few minutes.

There was sweat starting to bead at her forehead, the ragged breaths coming out of her mouth - she kept trying to keep her breaths deep, but Skye only managedone breath in three, if that. 

Dropping into Russian, Kara turned back to Grant. "Hurry it up as much as you can. Skye can't keep his heart beating forever."

"Did he ever put something in with a needle, like when you got that shot, or did he just take your blood?" Grant asked again, his voice having a slight sense of urgency, the pitch raised just a little.

Rachel shook her head. "No, no shot! Just blood. See, he gave me a Pony Band-aid!" She held out her arm, and sure enough there was a band-aid on the inside of her elbow, a small cotton pad in there as well. Par for the course after having blood taken. Except for the little colorful ponies all over the band-aid. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Kara couldn't help but notice the sullen way the cat - Curie - had stalked away from Grant and Rachel, presumably miffed about not being petted anymore. Under other circumstances, it might even have been funny.

Grant bit his lip for a moment, took a breath, about to start again, but Kara interrupted. They didn't have time for this.  _ Skye _ didn't have time for this, and Rachel didn't have time if Skye couldn't keep everything  _ just _ right.

"That doctor wasn't 'nice'." Kara said, trying to keep her voice level, but it was still probably harsher than it should have been. And then she realized it

_ Harsh is what I need to go for. _

"He was a bad man, and he wanted to hurt your daddy, hurt you." Kara didn't sugercoat it, though she kept it simple, doing her best to make Rachel get that this was serious, not a game. "He hurt lots of people and he wanted to hurt more."

Rachel's lip quivered and she actually looked afraid, probably more from Kara's tone than the words themselves. Grant shot her a look, but Kara just met his gaze. They didn't have time for him to play the calm, soothing parent card. 

"The bad man can't hurt you anymore. Or anyone else. But he - he might have done something to you that could hurt you, if we don't find out what it is. He might have given you something that's actually dangerous, even if it seems like it isn't." Grant kept going, and Kara bit her lip.

Rachel's expression wasn't all smiles and happiness at least, so maybe that was enough.... She seemed to be thinking hard, screwing up her face as if trying to recall some barely remembered fact.

"Ummm...." She started, and Kara looked over to Skye again - and now there was a small trail of blood coming down from her nose, the sweat starting to come off her forehead, dripping onto the body or running down her face in rivulets. Skye's breaths were even more ragged, not a single deep breath among them...

"Rachel, please, if there's anything-  _ anything _ ."

"The nice -" Rachel started, then cut herself off, "The bad doctor... he - he told me to put this on..." She kicked off her left shoe and then crouched down herself, pulling down her sock, revealing a slim anklet just above her foot. "He said it was to to- to... monitor.... Monitor my vitals? What's a vital? But it has ponies and unicorns! See?"

"I'll tell you later," Grant answered. "We need to get this off of you." Rachel started to protest and then stopped herself, as Kara crouched next to Rachel and Grant to get a better look at the anklet. It was high tech and had some sort of electronic locking device keeping it closed, There was a display on it, showing just one word 'Armed'.

But like the band-aid, it was decorated with... pony and unicorn stickers? Where did Frist get those? 

Which meant it hadn't gone off. Skye had kept the bastard's heart beating. 

She hoped.

Though it was held closed by the electronic lock, and there was that monitor - which had to hold whatever it was that would damage Rachel's DNA - but majority of the anklel was some kind of plastic or polymer. Which meant she could just cut it off...

She hoped.

"We need to find the key-" Grant started, but Kara pulled a knife from her pocket and Grant nodded after only a second. He made to look Rachel in the eyes again. "Rachel, I need you to be very still for a moment." Rachel was looking at the knife, eyes widening, but Grant gently directed her view back to him. "She's not going to hurt you, as long as you're still. I need you to be a brave girl again."

Rachel nodded slowly, and Kara carefully slid the knife under the band of the anklet, turning it so the blade was against the plastic. With a single pull, the knife - some fancy thing made of high-tech metal Kara couldn't pronounce - cut through the anklet instantly. Kara ripped the device off of Rachel's ankle and dropped it, perhaps a second before the readout on the display changed to 'Discharging' and a needle came out of the device, some sort of anti-tamper defense.

But it was off now, and Rachel was safe.

Grant wrapped his daughter in a tight, enveloping hug. "You're safe." He said, his voice heavy with relief. "You're safe." 

"Skye, you can stop! She's safe!" Kara shouted, and moments later, Skye pushed herself off of Frist's body, collapsing onto the ground on her back right next to him, the bloody trail coming out of both nostrils,, her face covered in sweat, the top bit of her shirt drenched. Blood drops were all over Frist's corpse and Skye's hands. Kara hurried to her.

"Skye?" Whatever her mixed feelings about the other woman...

"I... I'll... I'll be fine," Skye said weakly, between breaths. "In a bit. Maybe. Probably. Never used my power... that long... that far. But knew what would happen... Rachel?"

"She's safe. You kept Frist's heart going long enough that the deadman switch didn't go off," Kara confirmed. She grabbed Skye's hand and pulled her up lightly, arranging her half-limp body so she was at least sitting up against the lab bench and not right next to a dead body.

"Couldn't let her get hurt..." Skye said. "Need... need to rest."

"Go for it." Kara nodded. Then... "Look at it this way, Skye. If you ask Grant out now, I'm pretty sure he'll say yes." She even found herself offering Skye a (mostly) unforced smile.

Skye managed a weak laugh. "Don't think I've ever had to work so hard to get a date."


	22. Well Now What?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** Don't own, usual yadayada
> 
> **Author's Note:** And here it is. The final chapter. All that's left is the epilogue. 
> 
> Thanks to Riley Holden/Colormeblue for their beta reading work.

Enough Good Left After All

By Alkeni

Chapter 22: Well Now What?

** May 10th, 2019 **

** The  ** **_ Illiad _ ** ** , Off the Coast of Tiamat Base **

It was early the next morning when Coulson finally arrived at the  _ Illiad _ , his quinjet landing with little ceremony. Thankfully, he didn't bring Fitz or Simmons with him, though from what Kara heard over the radio, they were coming soon behind him, ready to go over all the scientific data left behind in the captured Hydra Base. Activating the EMP had killed a lot of it, but there was still a lot of of information left.

"Well," Coulson said as he approached her. "I didn't expect Ward to be here when I landed, but where is Skye?" From the way he said it, Kara knew what Coulson expected.  _ So he did figure it out. Hm. _

"She's not with Grant, if that's what you're wondering about. She's still resting in the infirmary." Kara looked at Coulson carefully, "You knew?"

"I know Skye better than anyone. Ward has always been... complicated for her. But seeing them in the same room together, working together... yeah, I could guess where it was going to go." Coulson sighed. "It's her choice. I can't stop her."

"I'm sure you could try. I just don't know if she'd pick you and S.H.I.E.L.D. again. Depends on if Grant is receptive." Kara kept to herself the fact that Grant had already said yes when a barely conscious Skye had ask 'hey, wanna grab that drink?'

_ It’s a start. If they don't kill each other over the drink, they're a done deal. _

"How is Ward's daughter?"

"Alive. Not going on the Index," Kara told him flatly, crossing her arms in front of her. "Grant can keep her safe better if she's not on some list somewhere, and she's not going to have you coming for her just because she was made powered." 

"If I tried to put her on the Index, I suspect Ward would kill me sooner or later. Or make a really good attempt anyway. I'd rather not have to deal with the fallout of that." Coulson let out another long sigh. "I'm getting too old for this shit." Kara raised an eyebrow. She didn't know how old Coulson was but he couldn't be that far over fifty. 

"Anyway, in other matters. Dr. Frist is dead and his people captured?"

"Almost every current Head of Hydra is dead or captured," Kara agreed. "Makes you wish the Fridge was still intact."

"I've wished that a lot over the years." Coulson shrugged, "We'll figure it out. By almost, do you mean someone escaped or-"

"We've been going over the invite list, and at least two heads decided not to come when Frist ordered everyone here. Some guy plugged into Colbat mining in central Africa and and a Russian oligarch's ex-wife with ties to the Kremlin. I'm sure the full report is on its’ way to your desk by now." Kara was surprised he hadn't read the preliminaries as it was...

"I've been reading up on some other issues. Unrelated to Hydra. Might be the thing we have to worry about while Hydra rebuilds. Again." Kara blinked.  _ He's not going to just- _ "I'm not saying we let those two get away. But we've played Whack-a-mole with Hydra enough times to know that we can't get them all. I'm getting resigned to that. Resigned to a lot of things," he looked past her as a door to belowdecks opened, and Kara followed his gaze to see Grant walking towards them. 

"But we can't  _ just _ play Hydra whack-a-mole. There's other threats that fall into our bailiwick that we'll need to deal with. I'll probably have a mission that requires your skills again soon." He turned fully to Grant. "Ward." 

_ My skills? My mask, more like. _ That was at the core of her value. Without the mask, she'd still be a specialist, but just one of several. It was the mask that made her so essential.  _ The damn mask. _

On the other hand... it had uses. It was what it was.

"Coulson," the stiffness in their tones was almost painful. Kara pursed her lips and watched them as they stood silently, glaring at each other. Then, slowly, Coulson reached into his suit jacket and retrieved a folded piece of paper, tossing it to him.

"Official pardon from S.H.I.E.L.D. You'll never have to worry about us coming after you again, as long as you don't..."

"Start killing people? Stealing advanced tech? That sort of thing of thing?" Grant interrupted.

"More or less. Agent Palamas has decided with some certainty your daughter won't end up on the Index. I'm guessing Skye won't support the notion either."

"Rachel won't need to be on the Index." Grant unfolded the paper and examined it carefully, probably looking for any loopholes. "And if I defend myself against one of your people coming after me overzealously? I still have a lot of people in S.H.I.E.L.D. who'd like to see me dead."

"People who want you dead enough to risk Agents Skye and Palamas landing on them like a ton of bricks? Even May doesn't hate you that much." Coulson chuckled humorlessly. "It's done, Ward. I'm done. With you. In a perfect world, I'd never have to think about or hear from you again. What Agent Palamas... does in her off hours is her affair."

"And Skye?" Grant asked, his voice quieter all of a sudden. "What about her off hours?"

Coulson shrugged grandly and helplessly. "There's nothing I can do to convince her she's making a mistake. And she can take care of herself when she finds out she is."

"I'm still not a hundred percent sure that I'm not the one making the mistake here..." Grant said softly, slowly. "But I don't plan on being a mistake on her part."

"If you're stupid enough to screw things up with Skye a second time, Grant, I'll punch you in the face myself," Kara rolled her eyes. "Because I won't want to have to deal with the 'Skye and Grant mope over each other show' anymore."

Coulson let out a snort of genuine laughter, but Kara saw him frown immediately, and she guessed he hadn't meant to laugh at that. 

"You really have changed, Ward." Coulson said after a long, silent, slightly awkward moment. Then he shrugged. "Or maybe you were always more complicated than I gave you credit for."

Grant blinked then did a double take. He looked over at Kara, "Did that - did he just admit he was wrong about something?"

Kara smirked, "Not exactly. I mean, sort of? Probably the closest thing to an apology he'll ever give to you." 

"I don't want his apology," Grant replied, turning back to Coulson.

"You'll never get it. I'm just tired of it. Of still hating you. Hating myself for not seeing it. You played me as well as you played everyone. Between Maria's little poop with knives sticking out of it and... what was it you said? 'I was trained from day one as a specialist-"

Grant interrupted him, "I go in, alone, I get it done. Defusing a nuclear bomb, I'm your guy. A welcoming committee? Not my speed." He chuckled, "I admit, I was skeptical when John told me how to get your attention and interest."

"John Garrett always knew me well - or, mostly, anyway. Thought I knew him well too." Coulson let out a sigh. "That's enough of opening old wounds. You have your pardon. You and your daughter can live in peace, and if Skye decides to take leave of her good sense, I can't stop her." He let out another long breath, then looked back to Kara. "I'd like you with me as I take a look at the base, Agent Palamas."

Kara nodded, "Yes Director Coulson."

** May 10th, 2019 **

** Tiamat Base **

"Do you think First managed to figure out why Rachel didn't collapse into goo?" Coulson asked as they walked through one of the half dozen genetic labs on site. S.H.I.E.L.D. tech specialists and scientists were already hard at work extracting what data they could from backup servers, hard copies and more. 

"I hope not. Because if he did and the info got out, we'll be facing more manufactured powered people. And ones who can last." Kara shrugged. "But that's not really my department."

"No, it's not." Coulson nodded. He stopped in front of one of the large specimen tanks holding a dead test subject - intact, but still, lifeless, the young woman's eyes forever open in an expression of agonized horror. "I suppose you're wondering why I've had you with me while I tour the base." He'd asked her all sorts of questions about the mission, how they'd found the base, every step along the way including the final moments after Frist had been killed.

"The thought crossed my mind," Kara agreed. "I mean, you've got enough people in this base to be safe from any attack even if someone dangerous was still onsite, and we're not exactly close, Director."

"No, not exactly," Coulson agreed, turning away from the tank to look at her. "You're not close with a lot of people in the agency. Some of the outlying operatives are just as iconoclastic as you, but the majority... well, you don't get along with them or work well with them. But I can't help but notice that, despite your differences, you and Skye managed to work together quite well. Especially from your answers to my questions."

Kara blinked. Then blinked again. "We didn't throttle each other. I don't know if that quite counts as-"

Coulson shook his head and interrupted, "From everything you've said, from everything I've heard, apart from your initial differences, your coordination on this case was... quite good when all’s said and done. It's not like Skye has played nicely with any partner for long either. And yet... you two managed to pull off working together."

The realization of what Coulson was building up to hit Kara in the face like an oncoming train and she shook her head violently. "No.  _ No. _ There is no way you're making Skye and me partners. No. No way in hell. I'll quit before I let you do that."

Coulson rolled his eyes, "No you won't. You could have quit years ago if you were going to quit. You may not like me, or most of the people in the agency, but you're a S.H.I.E.L.D. loyalist, for all that we failed you once. You believe in what this agency stands for."

Kara glared at him for a long moment. She could have quit - even if she hadn't wanted to go freelance, she could have made like Sharon Carter and signed up with the CIA or any number of other such legitimate agencies. But she hadn't. And he was right - she did believe in S.H.I.E.L.D. The idea of it anyway. And initially she'd stayed because she felt like she'd owed it to Grant to stay behind like he'd asked her to.

"I'm still not working with Skye as her partner," Kara finally said flatly.

"I expect to see the both of you in my office a week from tomorrow," Coulson replied, smirking smugly as he turned around and walked away.

** May 10th, 2019 **

** Infirmary, The ** **_ Illiad, _ ** ** Off the Coast of Tiamat Base **

"He did  _ what _ ?" Skye looked like she was about to fall back onto the cot she'd just gotten up from, she was so surprised. "He's insane. He's gone completely insane. First he tells me he's not even going to try to talk me out of trying to have something with Ward and then he tells you we're going to be partners? He's mad. The GH-325 is messing with his head again. That has to be it."

"Yeah, he's insane," Kara agreed. "But he seems pretty damn intent on us working together. Even though we handle completely different kinds of missions."

"And he said we're both supposed to be in his office a week from tomorrow?" Skye asked, still incredulous. "You're sure about that."

"I'm positive, Skye. We'll just have to make sure we can convince him this is a stupid idea at that meeting because I am  _ not _ being partnered with you. We'd kill each other -'

"-before the first mission ended," Skye finished. “We worked together for Rachel... for Ward. Grant," Skye corrected herself. "I suppose I should be calling him by his first name if I'm going to date him. Or try to date him, anyway."

"Technically, you should be calling him Daniel. I mean, that's his name now," Kara pointed out, then she shrugged, "But..."

"He just doesn't look like a Daniel," they said almost in unison and Kara blinked.

"Wait, did we just-" she started, then shook her head. "I need some air."  _ That is - god goddamnit. _   
  
"Yeah.. I'm gonna go talk to Ward... Grant. Whatever," Skye said, sounding as weirded out as Kara felt. Skye brushed past her she hurried out of the infirmary.

** May 14th, 2019 **

** Daniel Martel's Apartment, Indianapolis **

"You are an exhausting little girl, you know that, right?" Kara observed as she flopped onto the couch next to Rachel. "I don't know how your dad keeps up with you. Or how I'm supposed to keep up with you until he gets back from his date." On the one hand, you're thinking going out to grab a drink or two wouldn't take long.

On the other hand, this  _ was _ Skye and Grant. They weren't going to do anything quickly. Too much to talk about. Too much between them for a quick drink-date. And hence she'd been here for the last three hours babysitting Rachel.Well, guarding her while pretending to be a babysitter anyway.

"Daddy always says I make him feel his age," Rachel giggled. "Can we watch  _ Rainbow Kingdom _ now?" She bounced excitedly on the couch. She seemed to be more or less unaffected by her brief kidnapping. Frist had done a good job, apparently, into tricking her into thinking he wasn't a threat, that he was trying to help her. FInding out that Tiffany was dead had shaken her but she was too young to really understand all that it meant. It was sad and she had been sad about it but, by the next day, she was back to playing with her stuffed animals and watching her  _ Rainbow Kingdom  _ DVDs. And pestering Grant about getting a kitty. 

As Kara had expected, he'd even suggested a puppy but she'd stayed on the 'kitty!' wagon the entire time. She expected he'd crack soon enough. For a hardened specialist, he was something of a wimp when it came to his daughter.

_ Then again, he didn't get her that double scoop in the park... and he did nearly lose her. Makes sense he'd indulge her for a bit. _ Somehow, one place Kara knew Grant wouldn't be indulgent would be in whomever Rachel decided to date when she was older. 'Daniel Martel' might not clean a gun in front of his daughter's prom date but he'd find a way to put the fear of Dad into them.

"Yeah, fine. We can watch  _ Rainbow Kingdom _ ."  _ Why did I agree to this? _ Kara stood up and went over to the TV, putting the DVD in and queuing up the episode Rachel picked to watch for the seventy-thousand and sixty-sixth time, or however many times it was. "So... can you explain this to me again? I'm still lost on who is who. Like, the pink Unicorn is Lucas, right, or-"

"No, that's Jamie, silly! Lucas is the polka-dotted one! He and Jamie are best friends, but they fight too - but they always make up at the end of the episode. Always a happy ending!"

_ Always a happy ending. _ Rachel still believed that even.

Then again...

_ We saved her, Grant and Skye are probably going to end up together and happy... if complicated, and... _

Happy ending indeed.

They were almost to the end of the thirty minute episode when Kara heard something in hallway - a sort of thumping sound, maybe, or... She was off the couch in a moment, about to tell Rachel to hide in her bedroom, her hand on her concealed backup gun when she heard Grant's voice - she couldn't make out the words, but he was outside in the hall.

"Sounds like your daddy's about to be home." Kara said. "Why don't you go brush your teeth and get ready to go to bed so you can say goodnight when he comes in?" 

After a moment, Rachel nodded. "Okay!" She bounded up off the couch, still full of energy and Kara chuckled. 

"I swear, I've had gun battles less exhausting than watching her," she muttered under her breath, going to the door and opening it, wondering what the thumping sound had been.

And then she saw it - Skye had pinned Grant against the wall in the hallway as they made out where anyone could see them. From the way their hands were all over each other, they'd completely forgotten where they were. 

"Ahem!" Kara cleared her throat loudly. No response. She did it again, even louder, and this time the two of them realized where they were - and that they had an audience. They pulled back from each other - not much, just a little - and they at least had the dignity to look a little sheepish. Just a touch.

"Right. Yeah," Skye said after a moment. 

"I take it that drink went well?" Grant and Skye nodded and Kara went on:  "How about you go in, put your daughter to bed, say goodnight, all that fun stuff... and then the two of you go find a hotel room? I'll stay with Rachel." She couldn't believe she what she was offering, but they way they'd been starting to go at it, especially with Skye all but climbing him like a tree...

_ They need to get a room _ . 

"No - no... that's..." Skye started, "We just - we just got distracted. It's - it's too..."

"We- we decided we should take things slow," Grant finished. "We don't want to-"

"Rush things? From what I gather, you two basically wanted to bang since the moment you met, or close enough. Am I wrong?" She looked at them pointedly, waiting for one of them to object.

Unsurprisingly, they didn't.

"I think after... five years, you guys have waited long enough that it doesn't qualify as rushing things. Get the hotel room." Kara sighed. "Jesus Christ, when did I become your relationship cheerleader?"


	23. Epilogue: Partners

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** Yep. Yep. Still not mine.
> 
> And here we are. The final chapter. I appreciate all of you who have stuck with me for this entire fic, from beginning to end. Who have stuck through this fic with the Kara POV and the slowburn Skyeward and the quest to save Rachel from Frist, and on and on and on. It took longer to finish this fic that I hoped, had writers block and distractions and so on, but here we are, done. 
> 
> There will be no sequel, in case anyone is wondering. While I will always love Skyeward and Kara Lynn Palamas, I'm not likely to add new fics in the AoS fandom to my portfolio, beyond maybe some short oneshot promptfics. I do hope to finish Ledger Dripping Red and Out of the Shadows and Into the Light, eventually, someday, maybe, but that's all. If Grant Ward or Kara Lynn Palamas comes back from the dead and the show actually gets consistent good writing again, there's a chance there may be new AoS fic from me, but we all know how likely that is.
> 
> Thank you all, for reading, for commenting, for bookmarking, subscribing - whatever. Thank you.

 

Enough Good Left After All

By Alkeni

Epilogue: Partners

  **June 24th, 2024**

**Martel Residence, Indianapolis**

Kara lowered her sunglasses onto her face as she stepped out of her conspicuous black SUV and walked to the door of the Martel residence. Daniel Martel was still the name Grant was going under legally, though neither she nor Skye had gotten into the habit of calling him Daniel. The rest of the world might but, inside his house, Grant was still Grant.

_S_ _kye Martel just doesn't have the same ring to it as Skye Ward_. Kara rang the doorbell and waited. To her complete and utter lack of surprise, it was Rachel who opened the door to greet her.

"Aunty Kara!" Rachel broke into a huge smile and hugged Kara around the waist, standing on her tip-toes. Laughing despite herself, Kara hugged the girl back.

"You're here!" She pulled back, bouncing on her feet, "Did you bring me a present? Are you here for Liam's birthday? You're a few weeks early, but you can give me his present. I'll make sure he gets it! Promise!"

"If I gave you Liam's present, you'd abscond with it, you little thief," Kara countered, ruffling Rachel's hair for a moment, crouching down to look at the girl. She hadn't seen Rachel for a few months now - just hadn't had the time to come all the way out to the house where Grant and Skye lived with their now nearly ten year old daughter and the nearly two year old Liam. They'd had him just ten months after getting married - wasting absolutely no time. "And I'm here to pick up your mom. We have some bad guys to fight."

The birth of Liam had been a bit of a miracle because it had forced Coulson, Grant, Fitz and Simmons to all be in the same room peacefully without snark or backbiting. Without even Simmons trying to kill anyone. And Rachel had taken to being a big sister like a duck to water, with little real resentment.

"You and mom are going to be superheroes again!" Rachel all but squeed. She loved that her mom and her Aunt went around saving the day and 'kicking butt and taking names'. Someone had once tried to insist that Skye was her stepmother but Rachel had refused the notion.

"You make sure she comes home in time for Liam's birthday," Rachel suddenly switched to scolding, wagging her finger at Kara like a stern librarian telling her to be silent.

"I will."

"Promise?"

"Promise. Pinkie swear," She held out her hand and Rachel wrapped her pinkie around Kara's solemnly for a moment, before dropping her hand and nodding.

"But," Kara added, "I did get you something. But you have to make sure you don't eat this where your mom or dad can see you, alright?" Kara reached into her coat and pulled out a wrapped bar of white chocolate with multi-colored candy pieces inside. It was named after some character from _Rainbow Kingdom_ , which was s _till_ her favorite TV show, and it was easily her favorite candy.

"I won't!" Rachel agreed excitedly, taking the bar and sticking it into her pocket. "Thank you!" she hugged Kara again, giggling.

"Did you just give her candy again, Kara?" Skye asked as she walked into the hall, an amused look on her face.

"Absolutely not. You and Grant told me not to give her candy." Skye looked at her suspiciously, obviously not believing her but unable to prove she was lying. Rolling her eyes, she looked at her daughter, crouching a little - only a little - to be eye to eye with her.

"Did Aunty Kara give you any candy, Rachel?"

Rachel shook her head, eyes wide with innocence. "No. No candy." After a moment, Skye nodded.

"Alright. Come on in. Grant's playing hide and seek with Liam in the backyard." Skye gestured for Kara to come in and she did so, closing the door behind her.

"Here for work?" Skye asked, as they headed into the kitchen. Rachel looked like she wanted to follow but she also knew better than to eavesdrop on them when they were talking 'adult work stuff'. She headed for her room instead. Kara guessed she was going to stash the candy bar somewhere safe.

"I thought I told Coulson I was taking a few weeks off so I could be home for a while leading up to Liam's birthday." Skye has worked hard to balance continuing being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and mom to Rachel and Liam - and her marriage to Grant. And she managed to do remarkably well, in large part because she wasn't afraid to just tell Coulson to shove it if he started interfering on her personal time too much.

"You did, but this is kind of a only you and I can handle it sort of thing," Kara explained, shrugging. "I told him you'd be pissed but he insisted. Told me he'd make it up to you. And you'll be back inside of a week, if not sooner."

"He'd better make it up," Skye agreed, a little sourly, then she sighed. "So what do we have?"

"Italicus has resurfaced," Kara said, handing Skye a flash drive. The Hydra spy had escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. captivity a few months after Skye and Grant's wedding and S.H.I.E.L.D. had been trying to find her ever since. She didn't have the mask anymore, but she was still an expert at disguise and going undercover.

Skye plugged the flash drive into her tablet and pulled up the files. Then she blinked, "We found her again because someone took a selfie with her in the background? Jesus Christ, how many times is that going to work?"

"Seems fitting to me. It's how you and I ended up partners, more or less," Kara pointed out, chuckling. "And that may have been how it started, but..."

Skye continued to read through the data from the drive as she spoke, "It's not all we have on her now. Looks like she's working in the Heroin trade. Fun. I thought Hydra didn't usually do the drug cartels."

"I guess they're shaking things up. Again," Kara shrugged. There hadn't truly been any sort of real 'Hydra 5.0' yet - lots of bits and pieces of leftover Hydra infrastructure kicking around, but nothing seemed to have unified them. Yet.

_Though that might be the point._

"It's what Hydra does," Grant said, walking into the kitchen. He wrapped an arm around Skye's shoulders and pressed a light kiss to the top of her head before looking over her shoulder at the tablet. "Italicus? Again?"

"Yep," Kara agreed. "I guess Coulson thinks Skye and I are the pair to deal with her, since we got her last time."

"I think I remember having something to do with that," Grant pointed out.

  
"True," Skye agreed, "But I need you to stay behind and be all househusband and take care the kids while I'm gone." She pushed herself onto her tiptoes and leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Liam in his bedroom?"

"He decided hide and seek was boring and went to go play with Fox," Grant replied. "Rachel's making sure he doesn't play too hard with him or anything."

"Short of Liam stepping on his tail, I don't think there's anything that could make Fox hurt him," Skye replied, chuckling. "I swear, he loves our son almost more than we do."

"Now you're sounding like Rachel. Fox does not play favorites," Grant countered, smiling as he squeezed her shoulders. Kara wondered not for the first time just how these two had managed to get so damn domestic since getting that drink five years ago. "He's a cat."

"He's an evil mastermind who tricks us all into petting him and carrying him wherever he wants to go," Skye shot back, then she sighed and looked back at the tablet. "But he's your evil mastermind for a bit... Kara and I have our own, looks like."

Grant gave Karaa quick look while Skye was still looking at the tablet. She could easily read his 'make sure she comes home safe' face after this long. Kara nodded slowly, acknowledging his silent request.

"Keep an eye on Kara for me, Skye," Grant said after a moment to his wife. "I think she was slipping last time we sparred."

"Liar. I seem to recall you ending up flat on the mats more often than I did." Kara almost felt like sticking her tongue out at him, but she resisted the urge. She let out a sigh as she looked at the clock. "We need to get moving," she said turning back to Skye.

Skye nodded after a moment. "I'll meet you at the car after I grab my gear and let the kids know I'm leaving."

**June 25th, 2024**

**Italicus's Ancillary Safehouse near Portland, Maine**

"This isn't where she's moving the drugs but intel suggests she's got _something_ major going on here," Skye said, as she pulled their armored SUV up to the gates surrounding the structure. "I don't see anything on the outside. All the defense is probably at the door and inside.”

"Well, only one way to find out, right?" Kara reached into the backseat and pulled out two DF-ICER-shotguns, the latest development from FitzSimmons. The 'Deep Freeze' ICER had been developed thanks to Italicus' immunity to the old rounds. If someone _wasn't_ immune to a regular ICER round, a DF-ICER round would knock them into next week almost literally but, so far, people immune to regular ICERs were still vulnerable to the Deep Freeze and would be out for a few hours.

These shotguns had quickly become one of Kara's favorites for frontal assaults. Big, loud and destructive to property but wonderfully non-lethal to living things. Plus she had three regular pistols in various places on her person.

"Here." She handed Skye her shotgun before dropping her sunglasses down over her eyes. "Shall we?"

Skye stepped out of the car moments before Kara did the same, cocking the shotgun. "Let's." She dropped her own sunglasses down and they both fired at the gate at the same time, blowing it wide open.


End file.
